Quotes About Democracy

Democracy in China is like Viagra; no such thing as free elections.

I am not alone in thinking that we are at a tipping point ecologically and morally and politically. Democracy cannot survive without a vibrant middle class, yet the policies of one of the parties has been committed to wiping it out for 30 years.

The Election Assistance Commission represents a major, unprecedented commitment from the federal government to sustained freedom and vibrant democracy. I am humbled by the prospect of being one its charter members.

The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.

Moreover, as we live in an era of the ascendancy of democracy and human rights, we must see that Taiwan has been a vibrant democracy with a democratically elected president and legislature.

When countries with the worst possible human rights records sit on the UNHRC, seek to deflect attention from their own egregious human rights abuses and attempt to pass judgment on Israel - a country with a vibrant liberal democracy - the credibility of the UNHRC is further undermined, and the United States must not be silent.

Ultimately, it's not our responsibility to turn Afghanistan into a 21st-century, vibrant, economic, liberal democracy with a little L. Our responsibility is to keep Americans safe, to make sure we don't have a failed state in a region. It's not our responsibility to reconstruct Afghanistan.

It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.

It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which the masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.

Here in Brazil, the president and the vice president are elected together.

Sometimes you hear that many politicians vote for a bill in various forms before they vote against it, or vice versa. The conflict, negotiation, and eventual compromise involved in this process form the essence of the democratic process.

Is the purpose of free elections to allow the most clever and vicious person to aggregate power, or is the purpose of free elections to enable the American people to have a serious conversation about their country's future and try to find both a policy and a personality that they think will carry to them that better future?

Obama offers himself as a catalyst by which disenchanted Americans can overcome two decades of vicious partisanship, energize our democracy, and restore faith in government.

A lot of people want to see a last fight, but I am now engaged in a different fight - one that is much harder, much more vicious, and much more important to me. I am fighting for democracy and fighting for Ukraine.

One of the most perplexing political questions of the late 20th century is how new democracies should punish deposed dictators and their associates. Victims cry for justice, but leaders of new regimes must decide to what extent it is possible, moral or prudent to pursue evildoers of the past.

The true victory is the victory for democracy and pluralism.

Only legislative, judicial, and executive action can completely guarantee the victory of the free world.

Electoral victory is not an end in itself. It is intended to set in motion a pluralist process to resolve our disputes and move the country forward.

Citizens United was no victory for free speech.

Winning and losing have their significance in a democracy. But there should be no arrogance in victory, nor should there be any despondency in defeat.

The risk of a terrorist victory is greater when in fighting terror, democracy betrays its own essence.

From my quarter-a-century experience as a fighter for democracy, there is never a final victory for democracy. It is always a struggle in every generation, and you have to take up the course of time and time again.

If democracy brings an undemocratic group to power, is that a victory for democracy?