“…the more numerous an assembly may be…the greater is known to be the ascendancy of passion over reason…In the ancient republics, where the whole body of people assembled in person, a single orator, or an artful statesman, was generally seen to rule with complete a sway as if a sceptre had been placed in his single hand. On the same principle, the more multitudinous a representative assembly may be rendered, the more it will partake of the infirmities incident to collective meetings of the people. Ignorance will be the dupe of cunning, and passion the slave of sophistry and declamation…The countenance of the government may become more democratic, but the soul that animates it will be more oligarchic.”
~Federalist #58
