Charming Form of Government:-
§ "Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike." (Plato.)
Democracy & Socialism:-
§ "Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." (Alexis de Tocqueville, in a speech to the French Assembly, September 12, 1848.)
Conflict: Democracy & Liberty:-
§ "Perhaps, before going further, I should say that I am a liberal democrat and have no wish to disenfranchise my fellow citizens. My hope is that both liberty and democracy can be preserved before the one destroys the other. Whether this can be done is the question ..." (Walter Lippmann, 1889-1974.)
Conflict: Democracy & Effective Administration:-
§ "The scheme of parochial and club governments takes up the state at the wrong end." (1791, Burke, as quoted by OED.)
§ "Democracy is the worst form of government. It is the most inefficient, the most clumsy, the most unpractical. ... It reduces wisdom to impotence and secures the triumph of folly, ignorance, clap-trap and demagogy. ... Yet democracy is the only form of social order admissible, because it is the only one consistent with justice." (Robert Briffault, Rational Evolution, 1930.)
Herd Confused: The People:-
§ "And what are the people but a herd confused,
A miscellaneous rabble who extol
Things vulgar, and well weighed, scarce worth the praise?
They praise, and they admire they know not what,
And know not whom, but as one leads the other." (Milton.)
Democracy: The High Ideal:-
§ "... we must remember that no code or social legislation, no written law, can of itself guarantee true democracy and preserve liberty. The spring can rise no higher than it source. Democracy must continue to be fed from the altitude of the high ideals that founded it. ... Democracy is a spirit." [Stephen Leacock, Our Heritage of Liberty (London: Bodley Head, 1942) pp. 60,74.]
Not All the People are Equal:-
§ "The free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states." (U.S. Articles of Confederation, 1777.)
§ "And what are the people but a herd confused,