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“... such reasons, but against which more familiar democratic forms can be judged – see, for example, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent. If, however, the possibility of tyranny-through-omission is granted, then the unanimity rule loses its special attraction even as an ideal. The distinctive fact about the unanimity rule is that it gives ...”

“... to the lovelorn’ and meta-ethics is pulled away from abstract word-spinning. Both Wong’s and Fishkin’s books belong to the new wave, in that they are primarily concerned to argue general theses about morality, rather than to argue for particular substantive moral conclusions. But the authors understand that it really makes a difference for the way in ...”

“... the dangers of high-tech demagogy are significant, and we should attempt to reduce the risk. James Fishkin and I have argued that referendums should be preceded by a national holiday in which voters are given an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of the issue concerned. Our proposal is based on more than 50 social scientific experiments ...”

“... poor, male, white trash. So what – besides a desire to be arresting – lies behind Professor Fishkin’s clearly tendentious title? Mark Twain, Clifton Fadiman wrote, is ‘our Chaucer, our Homer, our Dante, our Virgil, because Huckleberry Finn is the nearest thing we have to a national epic. Just as the Declaration of Independence ... contains in embryo ...”