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
—Alexis de Tocqueville
Monday, December 29, 2014