Quotes About Authoritarianism

There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.

You in the West have been sold the idea that the only options in the Arab world are between authoritarian regimes and Islamic jihadists. That's obviously bogus.

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.

Conscientious people like structure, so for them, a solution to immigration should be orderly, and a wall embodied that.

The very nature of the government, and the direction it's been heading in for the past 40 years, is one of contrived government solutions to all the problems in the United States.

Governments do not have the answers - indeed, quite the reversal. A lot of times, they not only do not have the answers, but they themselves are the problem. If we are committed to helping our world's children, then we must begin to create solutions from the bottom up.

I had some things I had to fix. It took me 14 years to do it. But it was never really fun back in the day to work with directors who were a lot older and were like authoritarian and talking to you like that.

The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power.

Deviation from the word of God is sentimentality and says 'you're right' to this one, and 'you're right' to that one, and the guy in the middle is an ass-hole.

As a means of extracting information during interrogations, torture is notoriously unreliable, but as a means of terrorizing and controlling populations, nothing is quite as effective.

The fences that protect the public interest seem to be fast disappearing, while the ones that restrict our liberties keep multiplying.

Authoritarian socialism and capitalism share strong tendencies toward centralizing (one in the hands of the state, the other in the hands of corporations). They also both keep their respective systems going through ruthless expansion—whether through production for production's sake, in the case of Soviet-era socialism, or consumption for consumption's sake, in the case of consumer capitalism.

When you are living under emergency measures, by definition you no longer have a functioning democracy. I say these days, "the coup has already taken place." What is stunning is how few people even now recognize the degree to which the country was living under dictatorial measures.

I have been arrested before in NYC, and it is frightening and uncomfortable. But when I asked if I could now walk away and take my train — no one stopped me. The takeaway? When I refused to comply with these unlawful "mandates" that had burnt out the soul of a once-great city, nothing happened. The bullies, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, who put these scary-sounding, Dear Leader-esque "edicts" in place

That sorry specimen is both pedantic and corrupt. A fascist buttock polisher," Fermín declared

These new Francoists are as tight as two coats of paint.

d]espotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvements, and the means justified by actually effecting that end.

Mr. Trump seems more at home with Middle Eastern autocrats than he does with European democrats.

I cannot be any clearer, minority governments don't work.

Let me tell you the whole truth: if ever Fascism should come to America, it will come in the name of freedom.

Epithets like fascist and imperialist stooge became common currency, along with unbridled expressions of tribal chauvinism.

This is not a "culture war." It is a political war over the future of democracy.

It is not a social or cultural movement. It is a political movement, and its ultimate goal is power.

Christian nationalism pretends to work toward the revival of "traditional values" yet its values contradict the long-established principles and norms of our democracy.