But the phrase may also indicate the need of returning to the idea itself, of clarifying and deepening our apprehension of it, and of employing our sense of its meaning to criticize and re-make its political manifestations.
Dewey advocates for a deeper understanding of democracy to improve its political expressions.
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Nor can the liberating and confirming results of public action be construed to yield a wholesale idealization of states in contrast with other associations.
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.
They are reflections into the singular human being of customs and institutions; they are not natural, that is, “native,” organic propensities.
The foe to be dreaded is interference of government.