16 A pure democracy would be that form of government in which all people of the age of twenty-one years could actually take part in making the laws and administering the government. A country would need be very small indeed, if _all_ the people above twenty-one years of age could assemble in any one place and organize and conduct a meeting in which _all_ could take part in law-making. No building would be large enough to accommodate all the people and even if all the people assembled out of doors, the number would be so large that those standing or sitting near the outer edge of the assembly would be so far from the speaker that they could not hear what he said when he spoke to them. A pure democracy is a physical impossibility. The nearest form of government to a pure democracy is a representative democracy, or one in which groups of people choose one or more persons to represent them. Then these representatives make laws and carry on the government in the name of all the people whom they represent. Therefore a democracy is that form of government in which all people have equal opportunities, and in which all may take part in the government through their chosen representatives.
"No matter how widely democracy may be extended, if it is not accompanied by a certain equality of opportunity among the members of the political society, it is not democracy."--_Cyclopedia of American Government_, Vol. I, p. 561.
"Democracy is that form of government in which the people rule. The basis of democracy is equality, as that of the aristocracy is privilege."--Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_, Vol. I, p. 540.
"The beginnings of democracy were best observed in the townships of New England, where the Puritans from England settled and organized towns which were centers of democracy."--Peter Roberts.
In an absolute monarchy, the ruler is supreme; in a limited monarchy, the parliament or congress sets a limit to the powers of the ruler; in a democracy, the people rule.
"It is almost impossible that all the people will exactly agree on any proposition, either political or social. Therefore the rule of government in a democracy is, that all the people shall accept and obey those laws and regulations that are pleasing to the majority."