Quotes About Democracy

With help from its friends, however, democracy can almost always be repaired, then made better.

Most of us lived through the years when spam threatened to destroy e-mail. Today, democracy is being weakened by lies that come in waves and pound our senses the way a beach is assaulted by the surf. Leaders who play by the rules are having trouble staying ahead of a relentless news cycle and must devote too much effort trying to disprove stories that seem to come out of nowhere and have been invented solely to do them in.

no country has the right to dictate to others how they should be governed; but we all have good reason to speak up on behalf of democratic values

No error is more common than to assume that the winner of an election has license to do whatever he or she may want.

To hold the line, we must recognize that despots rarely reveal their intentions and that leaders who begin well frequently become more authoritarian the longer they hold power.

he arrived in the nation's highest office without ever having won a majority vote

Earlier, I cited Oswald Spengler's chilling century-old prophecy that "the era of individualism, liberalism and democracy, of humanitarianism and freedom, is nearing its end. The masses will accept with resignation the victory of the Caesars, the strong men, and will obey them." This is the real danger posed by Putin: that he will be a model for other national leaders who want to retain their grip on power indefinitely, despite political and legal constraints.

If Trump insists that judges are biased and calls the American criminal system a "laughingstock," what is to stop an autocratic leader like Duterte of the Philippines from discrediting his own judiciary?

The wise response to intolerance is not more intolerance or self-righteousness; it is a coming together across the ideological spectrum of people who want to make democracies more effective.

And, increasingly, these culture wars are wars, in which, as an old friend of mine said, the religious right say they are protected by the blood of the Lamb, but they still need their guns. God deserves better. God has fallen into the wrong hands. Religion has made itself unbelievable, an enemy of common sense, science, and democratic life, and is well on its way to shaming God out of existence.

but on account of the flag and prosperity and making the world safe for democracy, they were afraid to be with him, or to think much about him for fear they might believe him; for he said: While there is a lower class I am of it, while there is a criminal class I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free.

admire the United States not for what we were but for what we might become. Self-governing democracy was not an established creed, but a program for growth.

The left-right political dichotomy serves liberalism by not challenging it. Democracy sustains the status quo by offering the illusion of choice with no choice. Genuine opposition can only emerge if there is an alternative story with which to counter the current mythos.

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth in an open market, is a nation that is afraid of its people.

Art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

For, in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, 'holds office'; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.

Equality in America has never meant literal equality of condition or capacity. There will always be inequalities in character and ability in any society. Equality has meant rather that in the words of the Declaration of Independence, All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. It is meant that in a democratic society there should be no inequalities in opportunities or in freedoms.

The very word Secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society.

Today, nearly everyone is much better off. Yet the rackety existence of the majority is as far removed from the security enjoyed by the truly wealthy as it was in Victorian times.(...) The wealthy can pass their lives without contact with the rest of society. So long as they do not pose a threat to the reach, the poor can be left to their own devices. Social democracy has been replaced by the oligarchy of the rich as part of the price of peace.

West Virginia elects its judges, which is an abomination.

The tyranny of a majority can be just as cruel as the tyranny of a single dictator, depending on the degree of enlightenment or stupidity of the voting majority.

Democracy is essentially government by the majority, and a majority may be stupid, unenlightened, foolish, misled, and corrupt.