I attribute the small number of distinguished men in political life to the ever-increasing despotism of the majority…. The power of the majority is so absolute and irresistible that one must give up one's rights as a citizen and almost abjure one's qualities as a human being, if one intends to stray from the track which it prescribes.
—Alexis de Tocqueville
The long stretch of road (Wright)
Tell me, what is the long stretch of road for if not to sort out the reasons why we are here and why we do what we do, from why we are not in the other lane doing what others do.
C. D. Wright, Cooling Time: An American Poetry Vigil
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