Voting And Democracy Quotes

Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they're both just aspirin. ~ Gore Vidal

Everybody's for democracy in principle. It's only in practice that the thing gives rise to stiff objections. ~ Meg Greenfield

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters. ~ Abraham Lincoln

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. ~ Robert Maynard Hutchins

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. ~ Aristotle.

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy is necessary to peace and to undermining the forces of terrorism. ~ Benazir Bhutto

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois. ~ Gustave Flaubert

In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks. ~ Chris Patten

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections. ~ John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave. ~ Karl Kraus

Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses. ~ H.L. Mencken

Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. ~ Benito Mussolini

Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy. ~ Peter Ustinov

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear. ~ Alan Coren

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does. ~ Will Rogers

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. ~ H.L. Mencken

One of the things we're going to have to discuss and debate is how are we striking this balance between the need to keep the American people safe and our concerns about privacy. Because there are some trade-offs involved. I welcome this debate, and I think it's healthy for our democracy. ~ Barack Obama

History provides many examples of democracy crushed by people who said to be the champion of "genuine democracy" and "the people's real meaning". The realization about this may lead us to a defence position that conceals that democracy is an extraordinarily demanding way of rule. It must constantly find new ways to revitalize, to reach out to people and make them active. Dictatorships offers a machinery of obedience, closed and externally well-oiled. Democracy is based on fairness, openness and pulsating life. Therefore it must constantly be won again. ~ Olof Palme

The rich run a global system that allows them to accumulate capital and pay the lowest possible price for labour. The freedom that results applies only to them. The many simply have to work harder, in conditions that grow ever more insecure, to enrich the few. Democratic politics, which purports to enrich the many, is actually in the pocket of those bankers, media barons and other moguls who run and own everything. ~ Charles Moore

The message is pretty clear: Americans are sick and tired of the doubletalk coming out of Washington, of us going home and saying we're conservative and then coming up here and voting for 10,000 earmarks. We can't fool America anymore; the media is too good. They're reporting what we're really doing. ~ Jim DeMint

Voting, we might even say, is the next to last refuge of the politically impotent. The last refuge is, of course, giving your opinion to a pollster, who will get a version of it through a desiccated question, and then will submerge it in a Niagara of similar opinions, and convert them into
what else?
another piece of news. Thus we have here a great loop of impotence: The news elicits from you a variety of opinions about which you can do nothing except to offer them as more news, about which you can do nothing. ~ Neil Postman

For countries to succeed, for democracies to succeed, the women and men in those countries need to be free. Women and men need to know their rights. ~ Laura Bush

Our first and immutable commitment must be to the security of Israel, our only true ally in the Middle East and the only democracy ~ Barack Obama

I am not against identity politics or single based issues; at the same time, we need to find ways to connect these singular modes of politics to broader political narratives about democracy so we can recognize their strengths and limitations in building broad-based social movements. In short, we need to find new ways to connect education to the struggle for democracy that is under assault in ways that were unimaginable forty years ago. ~ Henry Giroux

Our forefathers were heroes. But why were they heroes? Because they fought for democracy. They fought for the life and liberty of the Filipino people. They fought for our independence, our freedom. They fought against tyranny, totalitarianism, and dictatorship. They fought for us and that is something we must be grateful for. ~ Yanan Melo

Thus inwardly armed with confidence in God and the unshakable stupidity of the voting citizenry, the politicians can begin the fight for the 'remaking' of the Reich as they call it. ~ Adolf Hitler

It is important that the Iraqi people have confidence in the election results and that the voting process, including the process for vote counting, is free and fair. ~ Zalmay Khalilzad

Democracy. For something that has no specific dictionary definition, it is as open to interpretation as any holy book is, and as wide open to as many translative abuses, yet without any definitive definition the process means something very different to every person it impacts upon. I would add that until we get an accurate definition the word is meaningless, and when the process is so open to interpretation that the Koch Bros can buy it, legally, without any fuss, that action in itself is not democratic, but neither is it illegal? All that before i hit the dangers of party politics ... ~ Steve Merrick

In theory at any rate each militia was a democracy and not a hierarchy . It was understood that orders had to be obeyed, but it was also understood that when you gave an order you gave it as comrade to comrade and not as superior to inferior. There were officers and NCOs, but there was no military rank in the ordinary sense; not titles, no badges, no heel-clicking and saluting. They had attempted to produce within the militias a sort of temporary working model of the classless society. ~ George Orwell

I never subscribed to what you might call the neo-Conservative position that somehow, at the barrel of a gun, overnight, liberty and democracy could be conjured up. ~ Gordon Brown

America's greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought. ~ Benazir Bhutto

Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny. ~ Aristotle.

This is why we apply the LCD Principle or Lowest Common Democracy. In short, this is social interaction based not on the best possible good, but on the least possible offense. Without saying so, the parties involved have entered into the following arrangement: What is the least we can all agree on and still get along? Of course, you can see this means no one is pleased. ~ Geoffrey Wood

This is democracy," she says. "It is strange. And it is messy. It's not about getting it right. It's about trying to get it right. Yes, it's a bit chaotic. Certainly we will get some things wrong. ~ Chuck Wendig

The surest way to lose democracy is to take it for granted. Every citizen must contribute to its advancement in some way. No nation or culture can long survive the absence of transcendent values and absolutes. ~ Carl F. H. Henry

The law is the anchor of our feelings. If the law holds our feelings well, it directs our feelings well. If however, the laws fails to hold our feelings well, our feelings become free enough for us to do what we feel freely ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

American democracy is spoiled by people buying everything in sight and then selling and buying everything in sight, including our politicians. ~ Russell Simmons

The religious right is one of the most politically militant voting blocs in the country and the agenda is clear (a gun in every uterus). Time we stopped subsidizing the anti-abortion movement in the form of tax-exemptions. ~ Quentin R. Bufogle

From the viewpoint of economic democracy, the capitalism-socialism debate was a debate between private and state capitalism (i.e., the private or public employment system), and the debate was as misframed as would be a debate between the private or public ownership of slaves. ~ David P. Ellerman

The Oval Office symbolizes ... the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I'm going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it's appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President. ~ Andrew Card

When everyone agrees to a single solution and a single plan, there's nothing more efficient in the world than an efficient democracy. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

I believe that it is essential to our leadership in the world and to the development of true democracy in our country to have no discrimination in our country whatsoever. This is most important in the schools of our country. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Empower yourselves with a good education, then get out there and use that education to build a country worthy of your boundless promise. ~ Michelle Obama

And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women - except, of course - those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape 'kit 'n' stuff, But for everybody else, it's a win-win. Unless you're a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years - whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know - actually, I take it back. The whole thing's a disaster. ~ Tina Fey

The well being of democracies regardless of their type and status is dependent on one small technical detail: The right to vote. Everything else is secondary. ~ Jose Ortega Y Gasset

There is nothing wrong with the United States
or the world at large
that cannot be stabilized and reconstructed by restoring the intelligence and integrity of all our organizations across the eight communities (academic, civil society, commerce, government, law enforcement, media, military, non-governmental/non-profit). ~ Robert David Steele

Long-term solutions are more attractive and cause much less controversy than short-term solutions, which will affect people who are still alive and voting. ~ George Friedman

Democracy cannot survive where there is such uniformity that everyone wears exactly the same intellectual uniform or point of view. Democracy implies diversity of outlook, a variety of points of view on politics, economics, and world affairs. Hence the educational ideal is not uniformity but unity, for unity allows diversity of points of view regarding the good means to a good end. ~ Fulton J. Sheen

The rules of workplace democracy are founded in solidarity and mutual trust. They are at the core of a historic process which promises to introduce a new economy, and thereby a new society, after capitalism. ~ Seymour Melman

Political struggle is the most important thing any of us can do as a citizen in a democracy; and that means the old joining the young to fight for elemental kinds of justice. ~ Jonathan Kozol

If I knew how to operate a DVR, you'd find episodes of 'The Tavis Smiley Show,' 'Democracy Now!' and lots of stuff from TV Land. What you can find now on my Hulu account are Korean soap operas, 'Grey's Anatomy' and films from the Criterion collection. ~ T'Keyah Crystal Keymah

We need a very progressive and strong agenda to bring people into the political process because I worry very much about the future of the American democracy where so many people are giving up. ~ Bernie Sanders

When the Founders thought of democracy, they saw democracy in the political sphere - a sphere strictly limited by the Constitution's well-defined and enumerated powers given the federal government. Substituting democratic decision making for what should be private decision making is nothing less than tyranny dressed up. ~ Walter E. Williams

The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth; for the neglect of education does harm to the constitution. The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives. For each government has a peculiar character which originally formed and which continues to preserve it. The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy. ~ Aristotle.

Though many of my arguments will be coolly analytical - that an acknowledgment of human nature does not, logically speaking, imply the negative outcomes so many people fear - I will not try to hide my belief that they have a positive thrust as well. "Man will become better when you show him what he is like," wrote Chekhov, and so the new sciences of human nature can help lead the way to a realistic, biologically informed humanism. They expose the psychological unity of our species beneath the superficial differences of physical appearance and parochial culture. They make us appreciate the wondrous complexity of the human mind, which we are apt to take for granted precisely because it works so well. They identify the moral intuitions that we can put to work in improving our lot. They promise a naturalness in human relationships, encouraging us to treat people in terms of how they do feel rather than how some theory says they ought to feel. They offer a touchstone by which we can identify suffering and oppression wherever they occur, unmasking the rationalizations of the powerful. They give us a way to see through the designs of self-appointed social reformers who would liberate us from our pleasures. They renew our appreciation for the achievements of democracy and of the rule of law. And they enhance the insights of artists and philosophers who have reflected on the human condition for millennia. ~ Steven Pinker

If we, as individuals, want to keep control of our democracy - rather than have a government paid for by corporate interest checks - then we have to fight back now and make sure our system reflects the belief that people, not corporations, control our democracy. ~ Michael Bennet

Taking away a person's control of her own life - meaning her bank account - is one of the greatest infringements a democracy can impose, especially when it applies to young people. It is an infringement even if the intent may be perceived as benign and socially valid. ~ Stieg Larsson

It'd make a wonderful change to have the leader of a pluralist democracy who acted on that, who told people just how tough things are going to be, just what's going to have to be done - and, maybe, ran all the risks on the side of honesty, rather than spinning stories and trying to win the headlines every day. ~ Chris Patten

If democracy is ever to be threatened, it will not be by revolutionary groups burning government offices and occupying the broadcasting and newspaper offices of the world. It will come from disenchantment, cynicism and despair caused by the realisation that the New World Order means we are all to be managed and not represented. ~ Tony Benn

There already exists the electronic capability for the tracking of individual behavior by centralized networks of surveillance and record-keeping computers. It is highly probable that the conversion to nuclear energy production will provide precisely those basic material conditions most appropriate for using the power of the computer to establish a new and enduring form of despotism. Only by decentralizing our basic mode of energy production - by breaking the cartels that monopolize the present system of energy production and by creating new decentralized forms of energy technology - can we restore the ecological and cultural configuration that led to the emergence of political democracy in Europe. ~ Marvin Harris

Until genuine political, economic, and cultural liberty are established, democracy is unlikely to offer anything more than a simulacrum of legitimacy for an oppressive regime. ~ David Harsanyi

I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. ~ John F. Kennedy

And that is my definition of democracy, the right to be in a minority and not be suppressed ~ Lee Harvey Oswald

I admire Russia for wiping out an economic system which permitted a handful of rich to exploit and beat gold from the millions of plain people ... . As one who believes in freedom and democracy for all, I honor the Red nation. ~ Frank Marshall Davis