Democracy must 'touch' the individual.

If democracy doesn't 'touch' the individual, its not democracy. Its relatively easy to have an ideology and allow that ideology to 'free-float' above the Peoples heads in some kind of abstraction. The most important aspect of democracy is the Freedom and Equality of every individual in the nation; that means, regardless of Race, color, belief system or political affiliation, an individual-any individual-is free to do whatever s/he dam-well pleases so long as s/he stays within the parameters of the legal system. The important thing is that s/he doesn't harm or interfere with the neighbor's rights. This makes law a very important aspect of the social. Of course, law regulates, in that sense, an individuals activities. The important part is "activities", not his/her 'thoughts' and 'feelings'. Thoughts and feelings are very important but, they 'do not count' in a legal system. Please, please, that doesn't mean they won't be present. They are present, or should be present, in all human activity. But, they are not quantifiable means that can be used to weigh evidence, hence must be excluded by legal rules in jury deliberations. Why? Simply because they cannot be weighed as 'evidential' in nature. Thoughts and feelings are very private and vary according to the individual thinking or feeling them. Although they can be expressed, we can never know someone else's thoughts or feelings. Hence that cannot serve as a legal criteria. Law relates strictly to law and social order and that law must 'touch' each and every human being in the polity. Law cannot circumscribe every human function or activity. There is no law on an island where only one individual lives. As important as feelings are to an individual, a juror is not allowed to make a judgment based on 'feelings'. Maybe, a juror and the media should not be allowed to publish such information. Why? It just 'fans' the antagonistic feelings in the social. Very sad, but true.