Maxioms Pet

X
  •   16  /  27  

    Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

Share to:

You May Also Like   /   View all maxioms

  ( comments )
  21  /  34  

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.

  ( comments )
  20  /  26  

For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred.

For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred.

  ( comments )
  15  /  13  

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of read more

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

  ( comments )
  13  /  18  

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is read more

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.

  ( comments )
  14  /  19  

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also read more

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

  ( comments )
  10  /  13  

The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.

The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.

  ( comments )
  6  /  19  

I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, read more

I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.

  ( comments )
  6  /  22  

Television is democracy at its ugliest.

Television is democracy at its ugliest.

  ( comments )
  8  /  13  

The public must be put in its place, so that it may exercise its own powers, but no less and read more

The public must be put in its place, so that it may exercise its own powers, but no less and perhaps even more, so that each of us may live free of the trampling and the roar of a bewildered herd.

Maxioms Web Pet