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Full Idea
Even democracy, when it becomes fanatical, as it did …in the French Revolution, ceases to be Liberal. Indeed, a fanatical belief in democracy makes democratic institutions impossible.
Gist of Idea
Democratic institutions become impossible in a fanatical democracy
Source
Bertrand Russell (Philosophy and Politics [1950], p.26)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Unpopular Essays' [Unwin 1990], p.26
A Reaction
Presumably this is because the supposed 'will of the people' is continually placed in opposition to the institutions. For example, there is a problem if a referendum is held, which produces a result in conflict with the institutions.
| 22575 | Ultimate democracy is tyranny [Aristotle] |
| 5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |
| 13557 | Unfortunately the majority do not tend to favour what is best [Seneca] |
| 19828 | Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling [Rousseau] |
| 19835 | When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies [Rousseau] |
| 22394 | Democracy diminishes mankind, making them mediocre and lowering their value [Nietzsche] |
| 18331 | Democracy is organisational power in decline [Nietzsche] |
| 23166 | In democracy we are more aware of being governed than of our tiny share in government [Russell] |
| 23169 | Democratic institutions become impossible in a fanatical democracy [Russell] |
| 21527 | On every new question the majority is always wrong at first [Russell] |
| 21526 | Unfortunately ordinary voters can't detect insincerity [Russell] |
| 23842 | Party politics in a democracy can't avoid an anti-democratic party [Weil] |
| 7594 | Democrats are committed to a belief and to its opposite, if the majority prefer the latter [Scruton] |