I am the People, the Mob

I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass.
Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?
I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world's food and
  clothes.
I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons come from me
  and the Lincolns. They die. And then I send forth more Napoleons
  and Lincolns.
I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand for much plowing.
  Terrible storms pass over me. I forget. The best of me is sucked out
  and wasted. I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and makes
  me work and give up what I have. And I forget.
Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history
  to remember. Then—I forget.
When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the People, use the
  lessons of yesterday and no longer forget who robbed me last year,
  who played me for a fool—then there will be no speaker in all the
  world say the name: "The People," with any fleck of a sneer in his
  voice or any far-off smile of derision.
The mob—the crowd—the mass—will arrive then.

Carl Sandburg