"The day will come [in the United States] when a multitude of people will choose the legislature. Is it possible to doubt what sort of a legislature will be chosen? On the one side is a statesman preaching patience, respect for rights, strict observance of public faith. On the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of capitalism and usurers and asking why anybody should be permitted to drink champagne and to ride in a carriage while thousands of honest people are want of necessities. Which of the candidates is likely to be preferred by a workman?... When society has entered on this downward progress, either civilization or liberty must perish."

—Thomas Macaulay in his 1857 prediction