Passage 1
This being the case with every nation, with every form of political life known to the world, it is manifest that the Democratic idea, in affirming the sovereignty of the people, or their responsibility to their own welfare alone, vacates every mode of national or political existence, by vacating the sacredness of the institutions on which such existence is based. In affirming the sovereignty of the people, the Democratic idea denies institutions any intrinsic or absolute sanctity, any sanctity save that which they derive from reflecting the popular well-being. It avouches the sole sacredness of humanity, and allows no sanctity to institutions underived from that source.
Government, measurement, and surveillanceMoral responsibilityFree will and automatismgovern · advanceseffective will · advancesRights and self-governmentConsequences and welfareEnlarges autonomyInstitutionalCivilizationalAdministration and public order
James makes institutions answerable to collective human welfare rather than treating their inherited authority as autonomous or sacred.
Lecture 1, “Democracy and Its Issues,” p. 8