Dr. Elizabeth Theiss-Morse and Dr. Alexander Keyssar were adversaries of a different sort when addressing the theme of the 2002 annual Maine Town Meeting. Realizing her comments might not be popular, Theiss-Morse, who is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska, began by quoting Margaret Chase Smith: “Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk.” Theiss-Morse said, “I take issue with the claims that increased participation in government produces better decisions, a better system, and better people. I think it is fallacious to believe that pushing people into participating in politics will lead to all sorts of positive outcomes.” Even though Americans say they want democratic decision making, they do not believe in the standard elements of it, such as debate and compromise, and are quite drawn to what Theiss-Morse describes as “stealth” democracy. She believes that people’s willingness to settle for stealth democracy is based on their misunderstandings of democratic politics. “We need to teach people through the education system that Americans legitimately disagree on many important issues. People need to be convinced that while elements of the common good, such as low crime rates and good education, may not be up for debate, the best method of achieving the common good is,” says Theiss-Morse.