Quotes About Democracy

Debate and discussions strengthen democracy but violence during protests weaken democracy.

The language of our democracy should be such that the weakest in our society should feel safe.

Reaching compromise does not signal weakness, but rather is a sign of strength. The ability to compromise is the backbone of democracy.

There is too much blind partisanship in Congress, which has blocked progress on critical issues. Too many members view compromise as weakness rather than the essence of our democracy. This has to end.

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

The General Assembly is a unique organ. It's the most representative organ of the United Nations, where all 193 Member States are present. Each has one vote regardless of its size, power, or wealth. That gives the body a huge authority.

If you were to ask me to choose between democratic values and wealth, power, prosperity and fame, I will very easily and without any doubt choose democratic values.

We don't have to sit by and watch our meritocracy be replaced by a permanent aristocracy, and our democracy be undermined by dynastic wealth.

Christianity, democracy, science, education, wealth, and the cumulative inheritance of a thousand years, have not preserved us from the vain repetition of history.

Until we can democratically control the wealth that is created from our labor, there isn't real democracy.

History has shown us many times that if the state repressively forces the redistribution of wealth and social justice, it becomes dangerous both for democracy and for human creativity. Yet, restraining the excesses of a capitalist structure that creates new inequities seems to need more than good public policy.

Women in America cannot achieve our full economic and personal fulfillment as long as the concentration of wealth and power in the top 1% continues to stifle democratic voices and progressive policies.

Americans assume that we never go to war to sustain our wealth, because war must be understood as a moral enterprise commensurate with our being a democracy.

Market forces and capitalism by themselves aren't sufficient to ensure the common good and to limit the concentration of wealth at levels that are compatible with democratic ideals.

Democracy is not compatible with capitalism but is congruent with a version of democratic socialism in which the wealth, resources, and benefits of a social order are shared in an equitable and just manner.

Capitalism is against the things that we say we believe in - democracy, freedom of choice, fairness. It's not about any of those things now. It's about protecting the wealthy and legalizing greed.

I am furious at the way that we have allowed money to subvert our democracy. I am appalled at the way that the U.S., a very wealthy nation, permits and even encourages a level of poverty that other wealthy nations would not even consider.

It means that, in fact, it's - whether fascist is the right word I don't know - more of a plutocracy than anything resembling a democracy; it has become a nation controlled by a very small, very wealthy elite.

Rather than working for all, power and public policy is increasingly influenced by wealthy elites that are able to bend the rules - and hijack democratic institutions - to their favour.

I think that's most unfortunate about our Democratic system, that you're confining it to people who are either very wealthy in their own right or have capacity to gain access to large amounts of money.

American democracy in the past has always been known for its large middle class and its relatively few very wealthy people and very few very poor people, but that is gone to today and the middle class is shrinking.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

One vote. That's a big weapon you have there, Mister. In 1948, just one additional vote in each precinct would have elected Dewey. In 1960, one vote in each precinct in Illinois would have elected Nixon. One vote.

From horrific incidents of police brutality and complicity in indiscriminate attacks by triads on citizens to arbitrary mass arrests and the banning of demonstrations, the government has employed nearly every weapon in its war chest to intimidate Hong Kongers into silence and to suppress their popular struggle for democracy and freedom.