" Many people in Europe believe without saying so, or say so without believing it, that one of the great advantages of universal suffrage is to summon men worthy of public trust to the direction of public affairs... For my part, I am bound to say, what I have seen in America does not give me any reason to think that this is the case... lt is a permanent feature of the present day that the most outstanding men in the United States are rarely summoned to public office... The race of American statesmen has strangely shrunk in size over the last half-century... I willingly accept that the bulk of the population very sincerely supports the welfare of the country... But what they always lack, more or less, is the skill to judge the means to achieve this sincerely desired end... I hold it proved that those who consider universal suffrage as a guarantee of the excellence of the choice made are under a complete delusion. "

― Alexis de Tocqueville