It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion

It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny. – James Fenimore Cooper

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Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. – Harry Emerson Fosdick

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Democracy is the menopause of Western society, the Grand Climacteric of the body social. Fascism is its middle-aged lust. – Jean Baudrillard

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No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. – Sir Winston Churchill

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In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects. – J. William Fulbright

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Death is beautiful when seen to be a law, and not an accident – It is as common as life. – Henry David Thoreau, 11 March 1842, letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate. – Hubert H. Humphrey

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