"The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois"

In this quote, Gustave Flaubert is expressing his negative view of democracy. He believes that the ultimate goal of democracy is to bring the working class, or the proletarian, to the same level of ignorance and foolishness as the wealthy bourgeois class. Flaubert is recommending that democracy is not genuinely about empowering the people, however rather about keeping them in a state of lack of knowledge and complacency. This quote highlights Flaubert's belief that the gentility will always discover ways to maintain their power and control over the masses, even under the guise of democracy. It likewise speaks to the concept that true equality and progress might be unattainable in a society where the wealthy hold all the power.