This rather eloquent quote is from Michael Gerson of The Washington Post.
"The most basic test of democracy is not what people do when they win; it is what people do when they lose. Citizens bring their deepest passions to a public debate - convictions they regard as morally self-evident. Yet a war goes on. Abortion is yet legal. A feared health-reform law passes. While no democratic judgment is final, respecting the temporary outcome of a democratic process is the definition of political maturity. The opposite - questioning the legitimacy of a democratic outcome; abusing, demeaning, and attempting to silence one's opponents - is a sign of democratic decline. From the late Roman republic to Weimar Germany, these attitudes have been the prelude to thuggery."
