#philosophy
Democracy.
“Democracy, if it is to succeed, needs a wide diffusion of two qualities which seem, at first sight, to tend in opposite directions.
On the one hand, men must have a certain degree of self-reliance and a certain willingness to back their own judgement; there must be political propaganda in opposite directions, in which many people take part.
But on the other hand, men must be willing to submit to the decision of the majority when it goes against them.
Either of these conditions may fail: the population may be too submissive, and may follow a vigorous leader into dictatorship; or each party may be too self-assertive, with the result that the nation falls into anarchy.”
– Bertrand Russell,
The Taming of Power.
