… is from page 157 of John Mueller’s superb 1999 book, Capitalism, Democracy, & Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery (links added):
In the end, William Riker’s perspective on all this seems sound: a liberal democracy is characterized not by “popular rule” but by various devices providing for “an intermittent, sometimes random, even perverse, popular veto” which “has at least the potential of preventing tyranny and rendering officials responsive.”
DBx: Indeed.
(Pictured above is the late, great University of Rochester political scientist Bill Riker.)
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