Politics & Power Quote by Robert Welch

A textbook definition can be a weapon, and Robert Welch’s line wields one with the calm certainty of a classroom chalkboard. By going back to Greek roots, he’s not just clarifying etymology; he’s claiming authority. “Literally” is doing the heavy lifting here, a rhetorical badge that suggests anyone who disagrees isn’t merely wrong but illiterate in first principles.

The intent is deceptively simple: stake out “government by the people” as the only legitimate meaning of democracy, then use that standard to indict whatever currently flies under the label. That move is especially telling given Welch’s broader ideological milieu, where “democracy” often reads as a slogan used to sanctify institutions, courts, bureaucracies, and international alliances that feel distant from everyday voters. The line is a preface, not a conclusion: it sets up an implicit question - if power isn’t actually in the people’s hands, why are we calling it democracy?

The subtext is populist and suspicious of mediation. “By the people” leaves little room for experts, permanent agencies, or even representative distance; it hints that intermediaries are where self-government goes to die. At the same time, the phrase is slippery: “the people” can mean the whole public, a voting majority, or a morally “real” people defined against outsiders and elites. That ambiguity is part of its effectiveness. It sounds neutral and foundational while quietly policing who counts, and what counts as legitimate power.