The familiar eulogies of the spectacle of “free men” going to the polls to determine by their personal volitions the political forms under which they should live is a specimen of this tendency to take whatever is readily seen as the full reality of a situation.
Dewey critiques the simplistic view of democracy as merely individuals voting freely.
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That the state should be to some a deity and to others a devil is another evidence of the defects of the premises from which discussion sets out.
But in this respect he does not differ from those explicitly designated public officials who have also been known to betray the interest committed to them instead of faithfully representing it.
The local communities without intent or forecast found their affairs conditioned by remote and invisible organizations.
For the older symbols of ideal life still engage thought and command loyalty.