Democracy does not demand that people choose wisely, only that they choose. If democracy is on the march, so much the better, but perhaps we should wish that intelligence were also included in the march.
But intelligence does not demand that people act with noble desires, only that they act in the way most likely to accomplish whatever their desires may be. Thus we might reasonably add nobility to the list of things which we would like to see marching.
Yet nobility does not demand an association with practical or wise ideas, and so it must be accompanied on the march by wisdom and pragmatism.
If we could get democracy, intelligence, nobility, wisdom, and pragmatism to all march together, then we would really have something worth drinking to.
The student of history will object at this point that it is quite rare to get any two of those abstractions to march in lockstep, much less all five. The student of history is right. What a killjoy the student of history is.
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