Needing just the right amount of chaos.......

     But if the government itself is a chaos and an absurdity, if it rules without helping, and commands without leading,—how can we persuade the individual, in such a state, to obey the laws and confine his self-seeking within the circle of the total good?  No wonder an Alcibiades turns against a state that distrusts ability, and reverences number more than knowledge.  No wonder there is chaos where there is no thought, and the crowd decides in haste and ignorance, to repent at leisure and in desolation.  Is it not a base superstition that mere numbers will give wisdom?  On the contrary is it not universally seen that men in crowds are more foolish and more violent and more cruel than men separate and alone?

-Will Durant,  The Story of Philosophy