November 21, 2025

Democracy is the name we give to the people each time we need them.

Robert De Flers (1872–1927), French playwright, L’Habit vert (1912), in The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.73

Can you look people in the eye when you say the word democracy? Or are you embarrassed? When do you wax eloquent in your use of the word? Are you sincere when you invoke it?

We are so familiar with the talisman-like quality of the word that it is hard to believe the ancient Greeks—who invented the idea—thought it the most disorderly form of government.