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Quote#Politics & Power

Popular governments can only be worked by a process which…

Quote byHenry James Sumner Maine · 1822–1888

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Popular Government: Four Essays, pp. 62-63.

English (original)

Popular governments can only be worked by a process which incidentally entails the further subdivision of the morsels of political power; and thus the tendency of these governments, as they widen their electoral basis, is towards a dead level of commonplace opinion, which they are forced to adopt as the standard of legislation and policy.

— Henry James Sumner Maine

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