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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What is significant is that access to means of amusement has been rendered easy and cheap beyond anything known in the past.
They are reflections into the singular human being of customs and institutions; they are not natural, that is, “native,” organic propensities.
But this conclusion is an obvious invitation to trial of forces to see where superior force lies.
It rules but it does not regulate; for its rule is confined to receipt of tribute and ceremonial deference.