Democracy does not mean merely government by the people, or majority rule, or universal suffrage.

All of these political forms or devices are a part of its necessary organization; but the chief advantage such methods of organization have is their tendency to promote some salutary and formative purpose.

The really formative purpose is not exclusively a matter of individual liberty, although it must give individual liberty abundant scope.

Neither is it a matter of equal rights alone, although it must always cherish the social bond which that principle represents.
The salutary and formative democratic purpose consists in using the democratic organization for the joint benefit of individual distinction and social improvement.
To define the really democratic organization as one which makes expressly and intentionally for individual distinction and social improvement is nothing more than a translation of the statement that such an organization should make expressly and intentionally for the welfare of the whole people.

The whole people will always consist of individuals, constituting small classes, who demand special opportunities, and the mass of the population who demand for their improvement more generalized opportunities.