American Democracy Quotes - Page 3

• That's what American democracy has come down to at these town hall meetings: old people and gun nuts, which is a terrible combination. I heard somebody yell 'AK-47!' and a lady yelled, 'Bingo!'

  Bill Maher

  Gun, Ak 47, Nuts

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• It [concentration of wealth and power] has been a menace to . . . American democracy.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Concentration Of Wealth, Political, Democracy

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• If American democracy is to remain the greatest hope of humanity, it must continue abundantly in the faith of the Bible

  Calvin Coolidge

  Presidential, Humanity, Democracy

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• And I'd like to say to the Senate, I hope you will say yes to a stronger American democracy in the year 2000.

  William J. Clinton

  Years, Historical, Democracy

  Clinton, William J. (2000). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1999”, p.70, Best Books on

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• Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they're so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact.

  James Mattis

  Sick, Enemy, Democracy

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• You do not keep American democracy in suspense. Because, look, too many people have marched and protested and fought and died for this democracy.

  Michelle Obama

  People, Democracy, Suspense

  Source: www.msnbc.com

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• American democracy is really under attack here [Clinton campaign that was hacked]. And the question is how are we and in particular and how are Democrats going to respond to this. We have to understand this is really, really quite extraordinary. And it would seem to me that the FBI shouldn't be getting rolled by the House Republicans and that's what happened here.

  James Carville

  House, Democracy, Campaigns

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• American democracy is in grave danger from the changes in the environment in which ideas either live and spread or wither and die.

  Al Gore

  Ideas, Democracy, Environment

  "In The Age Of Fake News And Alternative Facts, Al Gore Remains Optimistic". "Morning Edition" with Audie Cornish, wksu.org. March 14, 2017.

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• Men and women have served and died to protect American democracy, but their sacrifice will be for naught if that democracy dies from the poison the Supreme Court has injected into our political organs.

  Jennifer Granholm

  Sacrifice, Men, Political

  "Get Mad as Hell About Citizens United and Register to Vote" by Jennifer M. Granholm, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 31, 2012.

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• It's important to address young people in the reopening of New Orleans. In rebuilding, let's revisit the potential of American democracy and American glory.

  Wynton Marsalis

  New Orleans, People, Democracy

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• I assume that the point of American democracy is you can express any point of view you want.

  Gore Vidal

  Views, Democracy, Want

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• American democracy faces a massive challenge. I don't think it is a certainty that we're headed toward Putin's Russia, as some commentariat does. But people need to mobilize and build up small-d democratic institutions to prepare against that eventuality.

  Jonathan Chait

  Thinking, Russia, People

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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

  Russell Simmons

  Sight, People, Democracy

  "Russell Simmons On Whitney Houston At Vivienne Tam". Interview with Lorraine Cwelich, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 16, 2012.

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• Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury.

  John Oliver

  Funny, Democracy, Campaigns

  "John Oliver’s Campaign Ad Formula: F.L.A.G.S". www.huffingtonpost.com. July 31, 2012.

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• You are sitting here defending an assault on American democracy. Somebody probably said nice things about anybody at a given point. This is an unprecedented event that was done at the behest of the House Republicans that was leaked to the press by the House Republicans.

  James Carville

  Nice, House, Democracy

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• Let’s not forget that American democracy started with ‘We the People’ agreeing to work hard to create ‘a more perfect union.’ We’ve lost the idea that politics begins at home with what happens in families, in neighborhoods, in classrooms, in congregations. We called this democracy into being – and if we want to call this democracy back to its highest values, it’s got to be the us doing that calling. That’s not going to happen if ‘We the People’ don’t know how to talk to one another with civility and hold our differences in a creative, life-giving way.

  Parker J. Palmer

  Hard Work, Home, Ideas

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• That's what separates out American democracy from dictators and horrible governments across the world and the reason why that works is that we have a president that can consult with congress before making big decisions. That doesn't just make a unilateral decision to go in for military conflict.

  Charles R. Chamberlain

  Military, Government, Iraq

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• Whatever else the religious Right may be, it is a bonanza for its opponents... Reports of the great terror that is upon us are raising millions of dollars in fund appeals by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, Norman Lear's People for the American Way, and others who claim to believe that the religious Right is the greatest peril to American democracy since Joe McCarthy.

  Richard John Neuhaus

  Christian, Religious, Believe

  Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Cromartie, Ethics and Public Policy Center (Washington, D.C.) (1987). “Piety and politics: evangelicals and fundamentalists confront the world”, Ethics & Public Policy Center

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• Obama is not just a powerful speaker, but a thinker engaged with the ideas of his country and his age--this argument by historian James Kloppenberg should therefore fascinate anyone interested in American politics or how ideas shape public life. Tracing the influences of Obama's family, educational, and work experiences on his ideas, Reading Obama locates a unique individual in the crosscurrents of American democracy and continuing fights over American ideals.

  Martha Minow

  Country, Powerful, Educational

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• H.L.Mencken's war aims, according to the handful of observers who deigned to notice his conflict, were the overthrow of American Democracy, the Christian religion, and the YMCA. He was also credited with trying to wipe out poets and luncheon orators.

  Ben Hecht

  Christian, Art, War

  Ben Hecht (1964). “Letters from Bohemia”

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• At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

  John Paul Stevens

  Government, Self, People

  "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310". United States Supreme Court case No. 08-205, caselaw.findlaw.com. January 21, 2010.

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• Elvis [Presley] had a stepstool, if you will, to success because he came from the dominant culture. They identified with him. Michael Jackson had to come further and go deeper into the pit of possibility of American democracy and of cultural expression.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Expression, Democracy, Culture

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• The separation of church and state has been a cornerstone of American democracy for over two hundred years. Getting rid of it was long overdue.

  Andy Borowitz

  Years, Two, Long

  "In Landmark Decision, Supreme Court Strikes Down Main Reason Country Was Started". Satire from The Borowitz Report, www.newyorker.com. May 05, 2014.

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• And every historic effort to forge a democratic project has been undermined by two fundamental realities: poverty and paranoia. The persistence of poverty generates levels of despair that deepen social conflict the escalation of paranoia produces levels of distrust that reinforce cultural division. Rae is the most explosive issue in American life precisely because it forces us to confront the tragic facts of poverty and paranoia despair, and distrust. In short, a candid examination of race matters takes us to the core of the crisis of American democracy (p. 107).

  Cornel West

  Reality, Persistence, Two

  Cornel West (2017). “Race Matters: With a New Introduction”, p.107, Beacon Press

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• When Jefferson and the Republicans rallied to the Union and to the existing Federalist organization, the fabric of traditional American democracy was almost completely woven.

  Herbert Croly

  Organization, Democracy, Woven

  Herbert Croly (2005). “The Promise of American Life”, p.47, Cosimo, Inc.

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