What's the best way to quote Wikipedia in SE?

Question

Ideally I'd like to have SE recreate the formatting in Wikipedia, with footnotes and all. Any way of doing this, either by copying the source markdown, or — even better! — the RTF directly from the screen?

For instance, let's say there's a question about democracy (in a particular circumstance, or in general), and we'd like quote the Wikipedia definition. How do we change this:

'''Democracy''' ({{lang-gr|δημοκρατία}} ''{{lang|grc|dēmokraa thetía}}'', literally "rule by people"), in modern usage, has three senses all for a system of government where the citizens exercise power by [[Vote|voting]]. In a [[direct democracy]], the citizens as a whole form a governing body, and vote directly on each issue, e.g. on the passage of a particular tax law. In a [[representative democracy]] the citizens elect representatives from among themselves. These representative meet to form a governing body, such as a [[legislature]]. In a [[constitutional democracy]] the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but the constitution limits the majority and protects the minority, usually through the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, e.g. freedom of speech, or freedom of association.<ref>[[Oxford English Dictionary]]: ''Democracy''.</ref><ref name="britannica">{{cite book |last1=Watkins |first1=Frederick |authorlink1=Democracy |title=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=1970 |publisher=William Benton |isbn=0-85229-135-3 |pages=215-223 |edition=Expo '70 |language=English |format=Hardcover|volume=7|}}</ref> Democracy is sometimes referred to as "rule of the majority".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy|title=Democracy – Definition of Democracy by Merriam-Webster|publisher=}}</ref> Democracy is a system of processing conflicts in which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls what occurs and its outcomes.

… or — even better! — that:

… into that:

Democracy (Greek: δημοκρατία dēmokraa thetía, literally "rule by people"), in modern usage, has three senses all for a system of government where the citizens exercise power by voting. In a direct democracy, the citizens as a whole form a governing body, and vote directly on each issue, e.g. on the passage of a particular tax law. In a representative democracy the citizens elect representatives from among themselves. These representative meet to form a governing body, such as a legislature. In a constitutional democracy the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but the constitution limits the majority and protects the minority, usually through the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, e.g. freedom of speech, or freedom of association.^{1 2} Democracy is sometimes referred to as "rule of the majority".³ Democracy is a system of processing conflicts in which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls what occurs and its outcomes.

_{1. Oxford English Dictionary: Democracy.}

_{2. Watkins, Frederick (1970). Encyclopædia Britannica (Hardcover). 7 (Expo '70 ed.). William Benton. pp. 215–223. ISBN 0-85229-135-3.}

_{3. "Democracy – Definition of Democracy by Merriam-Webster".}

Answer 1

This technique¹ will enable footnote style formatting in your posts on SE.

When attempting to recreate RTF/Wikipedia styling, I kindly remind you to consider whether you want to create a Wikipedia style article in SE... or rather simply quote a tiny snippet of something. I'd discourage the former, and encourage the latter.

_{*1. This is an example of the technique I've linked to up above. Ah, the joys of markdown.}