The greatest threat to Democracy is not oppression by the powerful, for that oppression can be overthrown. The greatest threat is apathy of the citizenry, for an apathetic citizenry will never acquire the knowledge to propose a better way of governing themselves, nor muster the raw passion required to set a revolution in motion.

The Roman citizen is a first rate example. As the Republic slid into Empire, the ideals were easily abandoned, for the people were sated with bread and distracted with circuses. But the United States is fortunate in one respect; our ideals of Democracy have a concrete embodiment in the Constitution, and that is a thing that, to an educated populace,should hold more value than bread and circuses. It is for that reason that one should view the erosion of our educational values with despair.