DEMOCRACY REDUX: Reflections for the Fourth of July

“In a democracy the highest office is citizen.” — -Felix Frankfurter

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” — -Reinhold Niebuhr

“Democracy is the most fragile thing on earth, for what does it rest upon? You and me, and the fact that we agree to maintain it. The moment either of us says we will not, that’s the end of it. It doesn’t rest on anything but us; it doesn’t rest on armed force, the moment it does it isn’t democracy.” — -Allen Drury

“Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear. Liberty cannot bloom amid hate. Justice cannot take root amid rage…. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better…” — -Thurgood Marshall

“There always exists in a democratic society a large group which, quite naturally, chomps at the bit over the slowness of democracy; and that is why it is right for us who believe in democracy to…