Also, democracy is not about making the best decisions. Suffrage is not about IQ or political insight.

Democracy is about granting a voice to all, about granting rights and dignity to the convictions of all citizens, smart or dumb, rich or poor. Not because all people all have smart convictions, but because everybody has convictions that are their own.


Democracy is not about installing a sane, or even workable form of government,. It is about human rights, about dignity, about equality, about giving everybody a stake in society. The origin of democracy is not the laboratory of the political scientist devising the perfect state. The origins are the loftiest enlightenment, humanist ideals about freedom and the nature of man. Universal suffrage is the final product of the ideals of liberty, equality and (pick one) A) fraternity, or B) hedonistic pursuit of individual happiness.