[2] Advocates for abolition of slavery argued that the institution was contradictory to the United States Declaration of Independence's statements that "all men are created equal" and possessed natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
[4] Abraham Lincoln, in an April 6, 1859 letter to Henry L. Pierce, criticized political opponents of the day who slighted the foundational principles of Thomas Jefferson as "glittering generalities".
Words and phrases such as "common good", "reform", "courage", "democracy", "freedom", "hope", "patriotism", “family values”, "strength", are terms with which people all over the world have powerful associations, and they may have trouble disagreeing with them.
It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning.
Statements like "Marshal Pétain was a true patriot," "The Soviet press is the freest in the world," "The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution," are almost always made with intent to deceive.