The English people believes itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is free only during election of members of parliament; as soon as the members are elected, the people is enslaved; it is nothing. In the brief moment of its freedom, the English people makes such a use of that freedom that it deserves to lose it.
"Of The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by G. D. H. Cole, III, Ch. 15, 1913.
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