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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: the base, to poor people and to common folk, than to persons of good
quality--so far from being a matter of surprise, this, as can be
shown, is the keystone of the preservation of the democracy. It is
these poor people, this common folk, this riff-raff,[13] whose
prosperity, combined with the growth of their numbers, enhances the
democracy. Whereas, a shifting of fortune to the advantage of the
wealthy and the better classes implies the establishment on the part
of the commonalty of a strong power in opposition to itself. In fact,
all the world over, the cream of society is in opposition to the
democracy. Naturally, since the smallest amount of intemperance and
injustice, together with the highest scrupulousness in the pursuit of
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