Democracy in America

[sal_e_peters]

When tyranny takes root in a small nation, it is more awkward than anywhere else because its influence spreads to everything within a circle which is much smaller in extent. Being unable to entertain any grand design, it concentrates upon a host of minute details. It displays both a violent and fretful character. It abandons the political domain which is properly its own to meddle in people's private lives. After actions, it aims to govern taste; after the state, it wishes to rule families. But that happens rarely because liberty represents in truth that natural condition of small societies in which government offers too few attractions to ambition of individuals, are too limited for the sovereign power to be concentrated easily in the hands of one man. Should that happen, it is not difficult for citizens to dislodge both tyrant and tyranny.

Alexis Toqueville (who saw the states of the US as each nations in a confederacy)

Also...

In general, only simple ideas take hold of the minds of the people. A false yet clear and precise idea will always have more potency in society at large than a true but complex one.