Thursday, October 30, 2008

John Adams on Democracy

A quote for today:

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.
-
John Adams

I can tell that some of my students don't take the founders' suspicions of democracy seriously. That is a mistake. The founders may well have been horrified by the idea that propertyless 18 year olds still in school would be able to help select our country's leaders.