Quotes About Democracy

Our democracy is not a product but a continual process. It is preserved not by monuments but deeds. Sometimes it needs refining; sometimes it needs amending; sometimes it needs defending. Always, it needs improving.

I think more so than the Republican Party, we reflect America on the Democratic side of the aisle, and that's a healthy thing. I mean, that's what democracy is all about.

Democracy is just a reflection of our morals and the things that we believe.

We should not become so ashamed of the disappointments and travesties of democracy that we become ashamed of the idea itself. It is the outer reflection of our self-acceptance.

The U.N. must be made more inclusive, accountable, democratic, effective, and reflective of a world in which political and economic power has shifted.

Most of us complain about Congress. We say it's a place that doesn't reflect us; they don't listen to us. Actually, Congress well reflects the American people. It gives us exactly what we ask for.

If we, as individuals, want to keep control of our democracy - rather than have a government paid for by corporate interest checks - then we have to fight back now and make sure our system reflects the belief that people, not corporations, control our democracy.

I think it's a pity that in many people's minds constitutional reform and PR have come to mean much the same thing.

There can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it.

To the contrary, I think we bent over backwards to press for elections and for democratic reform.

The message of the free world to any potential Palestinian leadership should be a simple one: Embrace democratic reform and we will embrace you.

If we expose the Chinese to our freedoms, it may create a greater hunger for democracy, reform and liberties in China.

Support for peaceful reform by the people themselves is the right way to promote democracy, not the use of force.

If immigration reform doesn't happen, that doesn't say good things about our democracy, that everybody wants it, but Congress couldn't pass it.

When it comes to Senate reform, in general, I've always been a believer in an elected Senate and would hope to achieve aspects of Senate reform.

I tend to be one of those who does not equate democratization with the holding of elections. The emphasis ought to be on such things as rule of law, economic reform, and promotion of a free media - in short, essentially independent, free institutions.

I am an electoral reformer and an ex-Lib Dem.

It seems to be impossible to hold a credible election without reforming the electoral system.

We must not demonstrate any arrogance, and we must refrain from any irrational or undemocratic behavior.

By what right do you refuse to accept the vote of a citizen of the United States?

My father loved democracy. He loved the ancient Greeks because they invented democracy, and he shared their contempt for those who refused to participate in the political process.

The legitimacy of coercive acts in a democracy arises from the process by which they are justified and by the degree to which we regard decisions as rational. If the justifications proceed properly, through recognized public institutions, and if they make sense to us, they are legitimate.

The G7 - and earlier, the G8 - were a group of countries that shared the same values with regard to freedom and democracy, and through the annexation of Crimea, Russia made it clear at a certain point that these values of keeping the peace, integrity of the borders of a country were not being respected.

Britain went to war in 1939 in the name of freedom and democracy, but fielded armies within whose ranks were black and brown men who were regarded and often treated as second-class citizens.