And above all, I said, and as the result of all, see how sensitive the citizens become; they chafe impatiently at the least touch of authority and at length, as you know, they cease to care even for the laws, written or unwritten; they will have no one over them. ... Such, my friend, I said, is the fair and glorious beginning out of which springs tyranny. .... The ruin of oligarchy is the ruin of democracy; the same disease magnified and intensified by liberty overmasters democracy --the truth being that the excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction; and this is the case not only in the seasons and in vegetable and animal life, but above all in forms of government. ... The excess of liberty, whether in States or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery. - Plato, The Republic
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:46:34 +0000
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