Democracy

 

United States Capitol, Washington DC, 2006

... I would hope that it will serve to recall two points which one is often tempted to forget:

1. Democracy does not mean that the majority is right. It means that the majority has the right to govern.
2. Democracy does not mean that the minority is wrong. It means that while it respects the government of the majority, it expresses itself each time it believes the majority is wrong or believes that it (the majority) is performing acts against the laws, against morality and the very principles of democracy, and it must do this always and with the utmost energy because this is the mandate it (the minority) has received from citizens. When the majority claims it is always right and the minority does not dare to react, democracy is in danger.
Umberto Eco [Italian novelist, essayist and sociologist], 2 July 2008 in “La Repubblica”