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“In our governments, the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.”

James Madison

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Simplified Meaning:

The quote means that in our governments, most power comes from what the majority of people want. The main risk to personal freedoms does not come from the government acting against what people want, but from the government doing exactly what most people want.

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Democracy Individual rights Majority rule Political philosophy Political theory
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