Quotes About Democracy

The far left's mockery of the competitive institutions of "bourgeois democracy" and capitalism, its cynicism about the possibility of any objectivity in the media, the civil service, or the judiciary, has long had a right-wing version too. Hitler's Germany is the example usually given. But there are many others, from Franco's Spain to Pinochet's Chile.

But even in countries that were never occupied by the Red Army and never ruled by Latin American populists, democracy and free markets can produce unsatisfying outcomes, especially when badly regulated, or when nobody trusts the regulators, or when people are entering the contest from very different starting points. The losers of these competitions were always, sooner or later, going to challenge the value of the competition itself.

Unity is an anomaly. Polarization is normal. Skepticism about liberal democracy is also normal. And the appeal of authoritarianism is eternal.

No hay una explicación única, y no voy a ofrecer aquí ni una gran teoría ni una solución universal. Pero sí hay un tema de fondo: dadas las condiciones adecuadas, cualquier sociedad puede dar la espalda a la democracia. De hecho, si nos hemos de guiar por la historia, a la larga todas nuestras sociedades lo harán.

El ruido de los debates, el constante rumor del desacuerdo, pueden irritar a aquellas personas que prefieren vivir en una sociedad unida por un solo relato. Esa marcada preferencia por la unidad, al menos entre una parte de la población, contribuye a explicar por qué numerosas revoluciones liberales o democráticas, desde 1789 en adelante, terminaron en dictaduras que gozaron de un amplio apoyo.

The far left's mockery of the competitive institutions of "bourgeois democracy" and capitalism, its cynicism about the possibility of any objectivity in the media, the civil service, or the judiciary, has long had a right-wing version too.

Together we can make old and misunderstood words like liberalism mean something again; together we can fight back against lies and liars; together we can rethink what democracy should look like in a digital age.

has unnerved that part of the population that prefers unity and homogeneity. Democracy itself has always been loud and raucous, but when its rules are followed, it eventually creates consensus. The modern debate does not. Instead, it inspires in some people the desire to forcibly silence the rest.

there is a theme: Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all of our societies eventually will.

There is no single explanation, and I will not offer either a grand theory or a universal solution. But there is a theme: Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all of our societies eventually will.

single explanation, and I will not offer either a grand theory or a universal solution. But there is a theme: Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all of our societies eventually will.

El capitalismo y la democracia liberal habían fracasado estrepitosamente a lo largo de la década de 1930. Muchos creyeron que había llegado el momento de probar algo distinto.

tratando de aprender a evitar que una nueva democracia se convirtiera en una tiranía.

hay otros Estados Unidos —los de Buchanan, los de Trump— que no ven que exista una diferencia importante entre democracia y dictadura.

Alexander Hamilton and John Adams] wanted to build democracy in America on the basis of rational debate, reason, and compromise. But they had no illusions about human nature: They knew that men could sometimes succumb to "passions," to use their old-fashioned word. They knew that any political system built on logic and rationality was always at risk from an outburst of the irrational.

If it happens, the fall of liberal democracy in our own time will not look as it did in the 1920s or 1930s. But it will still require a new elite, a new generation of clercs, to bring it about. The collapse of an idea of the West, or of what is sometimes called "the Western liberal order," will need thinkers, intellectuals, journalists, bloggers, writers, and artists to undermine our current values, and then to imagine the new system to come.

There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen.

When you start to look at completing the development of a modern professional army, when you talk about maturing a democracy, when you talk about development and the economic conditions that have to be addressed, a decade is not too short a period of time to talk about.

Judges wear legal professionalism and precedent as a mantel that secures legitimacy for their decisions. It's how they distinguish themselves from politicians or administrative agencies, while wielding power that is sometimes much greater than those democratically accountable actors.

I may have come into politics with an unacknowledged condescension toward the game and the people who played it, but I left with more respect for politicians than when I went in. The worst of them - the careerists and predators - you find in all professions. The best of them were a credit to democracy.

Hopefully, we will become a stronger democratic society and avoid falling into xenophobia. Hopefully, we build good relationships with our neighboring countries and, rather than acting for profit for the current generation, acting in a way that will ensure we leave natural resources for future generations.

Profits should be for a purpose. Profits should be productive. You should make money for producing benefits that make the world a better place. Making money is a good thing when it is made in service to humanity or the democracy.

Democratically elected governments meekly requesting giant corporations to pay pitifully low levels of tax on their enormous profits is not a good look.

Our political system needs changing. It needs to move away from personalities and patronage to a system of party programs and consultation with the people.