I prefer Parenti's quote on democracy

Democracy is a wonderful invention by the people over history to protect themselves from the power of wealth. That's what democracy was in Greece, that's what democracy has been ever since. It's an invention of the people, nobody else but the people. There's no great philosopher that invented democracy, there's no great political theorist that thought about it and put it together, there's no great intellectual or writer or artist who created democracy! It was the mass of people! Anonymous, ordinary working people, working women and working men, people trying to survive, they're the ones that fought for it and they're the ones that gained whatever modicum of decency and security we might have in this inhumane capitalist system throughout history.