“ The people are admirable for choosing those to whom they should entrust some part of their authority. They have only to base their decisions on things of which they cannot be unaware and on facts that are evident to the senses. They know very well that a man has often been to war, that he has had such and such successes; they are, then, quite capable of electing a general. ”
 Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law (1748). copy citation