“In the idealized Athenian agora or New England town hall, the answers are simple and local. All citizens meet in the agora, they speak in a way that all relevant citizens can hear, they argue with each other, and ultimately they also constitute the body that votes and converts the opinion that emerges into a legitimate action of political authority.”

Yes, but not all citizens brought the same degree of eloquence and skill to debate. Concern over the power of demagogues was a consistent theme in the pre-mass media era.