Quotes About Authoritarianism

I think we can survive—and resist both US authoritarianism and corporatism while creating a democratic revolution—only if the majority of Americans either become the kind of activist I describe in this book—or support those who do.

No one should suffer from the great delusion that any form of communism or socialism which promotes the dictatorship of the few instead of the initiative of the millions can produce a happier or more prosperous society.

Future of America. — Perhaps America will one day go fascist democratically, by popular vote.

Violence, of course, is generally associated with frankly totalitarian forms of anti-political utopianism like Communism, but the Second World War shows that liberal universalists are as capable of violence as Communists. They are just less capable of honesty.

Fear has also been used to carry out a redistribution of wealth—which is to say back under the control of the state, where Putin is chief among a collection of officials whose roles more closely resemble those of Mafia dons than public servants.

Más allá de sus diferencias políticas con la República restaurada, el Porfiriato puede leerse como su estricta continuación, y la Revolución mexicana como una reimplantación institucional, social y política del Porfiriato. "Porfirismo colectivo"

Despotism may be the only organizational alternative to the political structure that we observe.

There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.

Heartless zealotry, whether from the religious right or from the teachers' union on the left, is always troubling.

Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.

The US and the European Union needs to help in the translation of the demand for democracy into a political will.

NATO was built to counteract the Soviet Union in its day and time. At this point there is no threat coming from the Soviet Union, because there is no Soviet Union anymore. And where there was the Soviet Union once, there is now a number of countries, among them the new and democratic Russia.

The Soviet Union was a one-party state. In such states, enemies of the party become enemies of the state, and the state can punish with full weight of prosecution.

Literature has its own life, even in a dictatorship like the Soviet Union.

Was the Soviet Union reformable? I would say no. They said, 'Okay, the Soviet Union isn't working.' They would say, 'No, it's great. We just need democracy, political pluralism, private property.' And then there was no Soviet Union. The European Union is the same.

Some people called me a fascist. That's mostly over, but there will be more attacks from the unions.

I look back at history, and some of the worst governments we've ever had, you know one of the first things they ever did? They went after the trade unions.

Morality crusades unite military regimes and religious zealots alike.

The problem with the United Nations is that while democracy within nations is the best available form of government, democracy among nations can be a moral disaster - especially if some nations are not democracies.

This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism.

The U.S. cannot impose freedom, security, and unity in Iraq by force.

A universal draft is most often the instrument of Third World dictators.

When I was teaching at the University of Tehran we were struggling against the implementation of the revolution rules.