Walter Lippman

“The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority.”

“The only dependable foundation of personal liberty is the personal economic security of private property.”

“The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.”

“The rule of 51 percent is a convenience... because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all of its true meaning when we imagine the opinion of 51 percent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole 100 percent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.”

“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.”

“While nobody can seriously maintain that the greatest number must have the greatest wisdom, or the greatest virtue, there is no denying that, under modern social conditions, they are likely to have the most power.”