"...for if a democratic republic, similar to that of the United States, were ever founded in a country where the power of one man had previously established a centralized administration..."
"...and sunk it deep into the habits and the laws of the people..."
"...I do not hesitate to assert that in such a republic a more insufferable despotism would prevail than in any of the absolute monarchies of Europe; or, indeed, any that could be found on this side of Asia." Alexis de Tocqueville
We didn't get in this mess overnight. It was a long and slippery slope, from "Gee, maybe we shouldn't let Grandma starve" to
armed Federal "Inspectors" raiding garage sales but we're on that slope and we're still sliding. We're not going to fix it overnight, either.