Democracies/Suicide

Democracy.

October 17, 2021

“Democracy has never been and never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. […] Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.

There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history.

Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and the unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.

When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.”

-John Adams