“The message of heroic leadership is about the sterling character of the leader, not the substance of the issues that the public is called to decide. And the temptation of heroic leadership is the extension of power and the escaping of public accountability. Heroic leaders are one of democracy’s leviathans, and the large shadows they cast obscure what democratic citizens lose in their presence.”

~ Bruce Miroff, Icons of Democracy:
American Leaders As Heroes, Aristocrats, Dissenters, and Democrats