June 2

H. L. Mencken observed that democracy is the theory that “the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard”. John Randolph, a senator from Virginia, who was born on the 2nd in 1773, also distilled the role of democracy into a nice little sound bite when he said, “I am an aristocrat. I love liberty. I hate equality.” He also observed that “We all know our duty better than we discharge it” which Attorney General Gonzalez may, at some point, use when testifying before Congress.