Quotes About Democracy

The strongest element behind the American effort had been the small farmers from the inland frontier districts. It was they who had supplied the men for the Army and who had in most of the states refashioned the several constitutions on democratic lines.

democracies are apt to think with their hearts rather than with their heads, and a general's business is, or should be, to use his head for planning.

Parliamentary democracy has flourished under party government. That is to say, it has flourished so long as there has been full freedom of speech, free elections, and free institutions. So we must beware of a tyranny of opinion which tries to make one side of a question the only one which may be heard.

We have had nothing else but wars since democracy took charge.

and in general, every ordinance made without the consent of those who are to obey it, is a violence rather than a law. And is

To prosper, a zoo needs parliamentary government, democratic elections, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association, rule of law and everything else enshrined in India's Constitution. Impossible to enjoy the animals otherwise. Long-term, bad politics is bad for business.

Democracy bases its appeal on the sacredness of the People – the consecration of Folk; socialism on the sacredness of Labor – the consecration of Work; and nationalism on the sacredness of the Fatherland – the consecration of Place. These concepts still arouse transcendent religious values or sanctions. It is religious emotion divorced from religious belief.

La cultura europea ha subito un processo di secolarizzazione e di trasformazione in senso materialistico che non solo ha distrutto la sua unità, ma che, alla fine, la minaccia di imbarbarimento, poiché significa un ritorno all'etica della tribù e alla riduzione della democrazia alla dittatura di massa e della scienza a una specie di magia utilitarista.

L'Europa conseguì la leadership della cultura mondiale non mediante la ricchezza materiale, ma mediante la preminenza nelle cose dello spirito: nella scienza, nella letteratura e nelle idee. Essa creò gli ideali che il resto del mondo seguì. Se la democrazia moderna dovesse comportare la cessazione di questa missione e l'abbandono della leadership spirituale per l'appagamento materiale, allora ciò significherebbe proprio il declino della cultura occidentale.

The modern ideological world movements - the Enlightenment, Liberalism, Democracy and Socialism - are none of them comprehensible without a knowledge of the Christian culture which underlies them all.

The amazing fact is that America is founded on a document. It's a work in progress. It can be tested by each generation.

Having given up the effort to raise the general level of competence—the old meaning of democracy—we are content to institutionalize competence in the caring class, which arrogates to itself the job of looking out for everybody else. Populism, as I understand it, is unambiguously committed to the

What democracy requires is vigorous public debate, not information. Of course, it needs information too, but the kind of information it needs can be generated only bys debate. We do not know what we need to know until we ask the right questions, and we can identify the right questions only by subjecting our own ideas about the world to the test of public controversy.

But democrats are seldom welcome on planets run by totalitarian governments, and scarcely more welcome on planets where anarchy prevails--this is due to the very nature of democracy, the only practical compromise between totalitarianism and anarchy.

Sampai hari kematianku, aku tetap seorang demokrat. Abdi dari rakyatku. Pelaksana dari keinginan mereka. Aku tidak memaksakan pimpinan kepada rakyat. Aku memberikan saran dan menunggu reaksi.

Central to the idea of a democracy is the ruse that civilian control of the military prevents military dictatorships. But it's different when the civilians running the defense establishment are oil barons, arms manufacturers, spooks and spokesmen for General Electric.

When Gloria Arroyo ran for reelection in the Philippines in 2004, the Economist published an article titled "Democracy as Showbiz," and whinged that running for president in the Philippines is so expensive that celebrity name recognition has become crucial. Oh, horrors: Arroyo ran against a movie star and a televangelist. America

You see few people here in America who really care very much about living a Christian life in a democratic world.

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it.

No law was ever made by the people; they are made for the people

The murkiness as we exist alongside each other calls us forward. I don't want to forget that I am here; at any given moment we are, each of us, next to any other capable of both the best and the worst our democracy has to offer.

I don't think that there's substantiated evidence that shows that voter fraud is such a rampant problem that we have to put in place measures that people have to pass in order to exercise that constitutional free right. Voting should be -- and is required to be -- a right that is unencumbered. That does not have tests that people must pass.... Anything put in place to restrict that right, or to make it more difficult for people to exercise it, should be outlawed, and should not be allowed.

I want everyone to vote. I want everyone to be a part of electing officials. Because when we are not a part, when we don't have a very broad voter base, then we don't have true representation.

For King, the essence of democracy is the belief that each person is created in the image of God. "We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man," he affirms.