The conceptions and shibboleths which are traditionally associated with the idea of democracy take on a veridical and directive meaning only when they are construed as marks and traits of an association which realizes the defining characteristics of a community.
Dewey states that traditional democratic concepts gain meaning only when linked to the characteristics of a true community.
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They persist as emotional cries rather than as reasoned ideas.
In other words, every officer of the public, whether he represents it as a voter or as a stated official, has a dual capacity.
Is the public much more than what a cynical diplomat once called Italy: a geographical expression?
There is therefore no necessary connection between the private character of an act and its non-social or anti-social character.