" The average American,” Whitaker wrote, “doesn’t want to be educated; he doesn’t want to improve his mind; he doesn’t even want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are two ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only two that we have ever found successful.” You can put on a fight (“ he likes a good hot battle, with no punches pulled”), or you can put on a show (“ he likes the movies; he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades”): "

― Jill Lepore , These Truths: A History of the United States