August 5, 2009
A pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the [ 61 ]same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions. -- -- James Madison in The Federalist Papers/No. 10
Posted by Vanderleun at August 5, 2009 10:17 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.