Democracy means self-rule.
Today, the golden rule means the man with the gold, rules. The landlord is the lord of the land. The freedom of speech is essential to democracy and, without the secure economic base derived from private property, the maverick will not feel free to speak his or her mind, and the spirit of democracy will weaken. So, now, therefore, if we wish to proclaim that democracy shall be universal, we must first arrange for freedom of speech to be as widespread as we can manage. If we want to derive the benefit of democracy, which is to maximize the focusing of our collective intelligence on our collective problems, we must begin by engaging more people in the control of their day to day lives.