Indeed nations, in general, are not apt to think until they feel; and
therefore nations in general have lost their liberty: For as violations
of the rights of the governed, are commonly not only specious, but small
at the beginning, they spread over the multitude in such a manner, as to
touch individuals but slightly. Thus they are disregarded. The power or
profit that arises from these violations centering in few persons, is to
them considerable. For this reason the governors having in view their
particular purposes, successively preserve an uniformity of conduct for
attaining them. They regularly increase the first injuries, till at
length the inattentive people are compelled to perceive the heaviness of
their burthens — They begin to complain and inquire — but too late. They
find their oppressors so strengthened by success, and themselves so
entangled in examples of express authority on the part of their rulers,
and of tacit recognition on their own part, that they are quite
confounded: for millions entertain no other idea of the legality of
power, than it is founded on the exercise of power.
-John Dickenson-
(1732-1808)
Source: John Dickenson, in The Political Writings of John Dickinson,
Esquire Vol. I (1801), Letter XI
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/John.Dickenson.Quote.768B
._,_.___