Ambrose Bierce über Republik
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Republik: ein Volk, in dem Regierende und Regierte identisch sind. Es gibt also nur eine geduldete Obrigkeit, um einen freiwilligen Gehorsam zu erzwingen.
REPUBLIC, n. A nation in which, the thing governing and the thing governed being the same, there is only a permitted authority to enforce an optional obedience. In a republic, the foundation of public order is the ever lessening habit of submission inherited from ancestors who, being truly governed, submitted because they had to. There are as many kinds of republics as there are graduations between the despotism whence they came and the anarchy whither they lead.
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