The more I thought about this, the more I am disturbed by your portrayal. In others, it could perhaps be ignorance, but you are a self-described historian. To ascribe such traits as "unprincipled and amoral" to those who know the dangers of democracy means you are taking a swipe at the very Founders of this Republic! Perhaps you think Madison's head was full of onion soup when he wrote Federalist X, but I, for one, think he was right.
To my knowledge, even where "democracy" was used in a question asked of the President during the first year of the war, he responded with the word "freedom"...so I doubt it was unintentional.* I choose to give him credit for recognizing that a mobocracy could have led to terrible human rights violations....and if that's cynical and calculating on his part, so be it. I call it wise.
And now I can go back and grab an hour more of sleep before getting ready for work. :-)
*if anyone has any contrary examples, I'd love to hear of them!
Madison's head was full of "French Onion Soup"...
Need to be specific there muh man! ;-)
How you flatter yourself. I was not thinking about the founders, I was taking a swipe at your sophomoric analysis.