Quotes About Democracy

Neoliberalism works best when there is formal electoral democracy, but when the population is diverted from the information, access, and public forums necessary for meaningful participation in decision making.

Though it is obligatory to hail our leaders for their sincere dedication to bringing democracy to a suffering world, perhaps in an excess of idealism, the more serious scholar/advocates of the mission of "democracy promotion" recognize that there is a "strong line of continuity" running through all administrations: the United States supports democracy if and only if it conforms to U.S. strategic and economic interests.

Thats the danger of democracy: If organizations can develop, if people are no longer just glued to the tube, you may have all these funny thoughts arising in their heads, like sickly inhibitions against the use of military force. That has to be overcome, bit hasn't been over come.

States of course have complex internal structures, and the choices and decisions of the political leadership are heavily influenced by internal concentrations of power, while the general population is often marginalized. That is true even for the more democratic societies, and obviously for others.

Hence the elaborate pretense that the press is a critical dissenting force—maybe even too critical for the health of democracy—when in fact it is almost entirely subservient to the basic principles of the ideological system:

a system of governance that merely grants the general public the opportunity to ratify decisions taken by the elite groups that dominate the private society and the state, hardly merits the term "democracy.

By shredding the remnants of political democracy, these financial institutions lay the basis for carrying the lethal process forward—as long as their victims are willing to suffer in silence.

the ones who are running the world economy have protected themselves very strongly from market discipline. the neo-liberal system is an attack, in my view, both on the market, and on democracy.

I gruppi di potere sono in grado di difendersi e secondo gli standard dei media il fatto che la loro posizione e i loro diritti vengano minacciati costituisce scandalo. Al contrario, finché illegalità e violazione dei principi democratici colpiscono gruppi marginali [...] l'opposizione dei media è completamente assente.

Di solito, più si sente la necessità di parlare degli ideali della democrazia, meno democratico è il sistema.

Si la escuela fuera verdaderamente democrática, no sería necesario adoctrinar con tópicos sobre la democracia.

alleged commitment to democracy and human rights is mere rhetoric, directly contrary to actual policy.

I do not pretend to know the answer to this question. But it seems clear that unless there is, in some form, a positive answer, the chances for a truly democratic revolution that will achieve the humanistic ideals of the left are not great.

En una sociedad democrática y libre, los trabajadores deberían ser «los dueños de su propio destino industrial», y no herramientas alquiladas por los empresarios.

A well-known Egyptian academic traces hostility towards the US to its support for 'every possible anti-democratic government in the Arab-Islamic world..... ... When we hear American officials speaking of freedom, democracy and such values, they make terms like these sound obscene.

A major question was to what extent should we permit real democracy? Madison discussed this pretty seriously, not so much in the Federalist Papers—which were kind of propaganda—but in the debates of the Constitutional Convention, which are the most interesting place to look. If you read the debates, Madison said the major concern of the society—any decent society—has to be to "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." His phrase.

Si credono i padroni dell'umanità e purtroppo lo stanno diventando: la politica democratica ha cessato di resistere loro, spianando la strada alla dittatura incondizionata dei poteri forti, economici e finanziari, che ormai dettano le condizioni della nostra vita pubblica.

To everyone except a dedicated ideologue, it was pretty obvious that we invaded Iraq not because of our love of democracy but because it's maybe the second- or third-largest source of oil in the world and is right in the middle of the major energy-producing region. You're not supposed to say this. It's considered a conspiracy theory.

As always in the past, one can choose to be a democrat in Jefferson's sense, or an aristocrat. The latter path offers rich rewards, given the locus of wealth, privilege and power, and the ends it naturally seeks. The other path is one of struggle, often defeat, but also rewards that cannot be imagined by those who succumb to 'the New Spirit of the Age: Gain Wealth, forgetting all but Self.

deficit reduction is the demand of the financial institutions and the superrich, and in a rapidly declining democracy, that's what counts.

Since democratic leaders can't wait for the people to arrive at even general understanding and have to engineer consent to socially constructive goals and values, some obvious questions arise. Who makes the decisions about these goals and values? What factors enter into the decisions of "democratic leaders"? How is their "responsibility" and dedication to the public interest established?

Propaganda is to Democracy what violence is to Totalitarianism

In a democratic society, we, the intelligent minority, have the duty of directing the "ignorant and stupid" masses to what we decide are proper goals, using whatever deception is required. All for their own good.

International law and democracy are fine things—but as judged by outcome, not process; like free trade.