"The practical reason why [the majority rules] is not because they are most likely to be in the right,...but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice. . . . . Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience.?. . Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislation? Why has every man a conscience, then?" What, according to Thoreau, is the problem with a "majority rules" system?

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