Democracy Quotes - Page 40

• I think the only way we retain credibility with the Arab world is to say, 'When push came to shove, despite the mistakes we made in the past, we are with you in democracy.'

  John Fund

  Mistake, Past, Thinking

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• Remember, the Islamist view of democracy is: one man, one vote, one election, and that's it.

  John Fund

  Men, Views, Election

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• Democracy will never be supplanted by a republic of experts—and that is a very good thing.

  Thomas Piketty

  Experts, Republic, Good Things

  Thomas Piketty (2014). “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, p.2, Harvard University Press

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• In a Democracy, the real rulers are the dexterous manipulators of votes, with their placemen, the mechanics who so skillfully operate the hidden springs which move the puppets in the arena of democratic elections. Men of this kind are ever ready with loud speeches lauding equality; in reality, they rule the people as any despot or military dictator might rule it.

  Konstantin Pobedonostsev

  Spring, Military, Real

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• The Internet is democracy's revenge on democracy.

  Molly Haskell

  Revenge, Internet

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• Democracy is the worst form of government. It is the most inefficient, the most clumsy, the most unpractical.... It reduces wisdom to impotence and secures the triumph of folly, ignorance, clap-trap, and demagogy.... Yet democracy is the only form of social order that is admissible, because it is the only one consistent with justice.

  Robert Briffault

  Ignorance, Government, Order

  Rational Evolution (The Making of Humanity) ch. 15 (1930) SeeWinston Churchill 34

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• Immigration is everyone’s business: it is one of the most important national issues. The idea that it is too dangerous to be debated is a mockery of democracy. It is too important not to debate.

  Geoffrey Blainey

  Ideas, Issues, Important

  "All for Australia". Book by Geoffrey Blainey, 1984.

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• Unequal Democracy is the sort of book to which every political scientist should aspire--it is methodologically rigorous, conceptually serious, and above all, it addresses urgent concerns of our fellow citizens. As Bartels shows, much of what we think we know about the politics of economic inequality is dead wrong. Bartels's perplexing and often unexpected discoveries should help refocus the gathering public debate about inequality and what to do about it.

  Robert D. Putnam

  Book, Thinking, Economic Inequality

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• The library is central to our free society. It is a critical element in the free exchange of information at the heart of our democracy.

  Vartan Gregorian

  Heart, Library, Elements

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• I'm fed up with democracy. In a democracy, people vote for the mayors. I wanted to build a city where I will choose the citizens.

  Emir Kusturica

  Cities, People, Citizens

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• If democracy is to be rebuilt … it is necessary not just for the public to learn to trust their politicians, but for the politicians to learn to trust the public.

  Rory Stewart

  Politician, Ifs

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• Despite the dubious statistics … democracy is a thing of value for which we should be fighting.

  Rory Stewart

  Fighting, Dubious, Statistics

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• My parents told us how they felt but never imposed their beliefs on us, although I appreciate I got a healthy sense of democracy from them.

  Ahmet Zappa

  Appreciate, Parent, Healthy

  "Interview: Ahmet Zappa" by Sharon Krum, www.theguardian.com. July 28, 2006.

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• Legal systems, at both the national and international level, are therefore required to recognize, guarantee and protect religious freedom, which is a right intrinsically inherent in human nature, in man's dignity as a free being, and is also an indicator of a healthy democracy and cone of the main sources of the legitimacy of the State. Religious freedom ... favors the development of relationships of mutual respect between the different Confessions and their healthy collaboration with the State and political society, without confusion of roles and without antagonism.

  Pope Francis

  Religious, Men, Confusion

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• Since the birth of our Nation, no other right has been more important than having the ability to vote. Unfortunately, as history has shown, the denial of this right to minorities is a scar on our system of democracy.

  Jan Schakowsky

  Important, Minorities, Denial

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• When you make the claim that something on the Internet is going to be good for democracy, you often [hear], 'Are you talking about the thing with the singing cats?'

  Clay Shirky

  Cat, Talking, Singing

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• You know, when a president is about to leave office, most of the time most people are dying for him to go on and get out of there. But there are a few little rituals that have to be observed. One of them is that the president must host the incoming president in the White House, smile as if they love each other and give the American people the idea that democracy is peaceful and honourable and there will be a good transfer of power

  Nancy Gibbs

  White, Ideas, Office

  Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy (2012). “The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity”, p.502, Simon and Schuster

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• The virtue of democracy is that is has placed limits on the absoluteness of power.

  Robert Morrison MacIver

  Limits, Virtue

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• For about ten years now, the struggle for democracy and the respect of human rights has been in the focus point - if not a commodity - of political groups aiming to rise to power.

  Omar Bongo

  Struggle, Rights, Rise To Power

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• If it is not totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge him with any offence against any written law – if that is not what we have always cried out against in Fascist states – then what is it?… If we are to survive as a free democracy, then we must be prepared, in principle, to concede to our enemies – even those who do not subscribe to our views – as much constitutional rights as you concede yourself.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Men, Law, Rights

  Legislative Assembly Debates, September 21, 1955.

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• But we either believe in democracy or we don't. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed. If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Believe, Men, Law

  Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955.

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• You’re talking about Rwanda or Bangladesh, or Cambodia, or the Philippines. They’ve got democracy, according to Freedom House. But have you got a civilised life to lead? People want economic development first and foremost. The leaders may talk something else. You take a poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Jobs, School, Home

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• There are some flaws in the assumptions made for democracy. It is assumed that all men and women are equal or should be equal. Hence, one-man-one-vote. But is equality realistic? If it is not, to insist on equality must lead to regression.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Men, Regression, Vote

  Lee Kuan Yew (2013). “The Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew”, p.48, Editions Didier Millet

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• Fear and destructiveness are the major emotional sources of fascism, eros belongs mainly to democracy.

  Theodor Adorno

  Emotional, Source, Fascism

  Theodor W. Adorno, Samuel H. Flowerman (1964). “The Authoritarian Personality: Studies in Prejudice”

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• Western-style multi-party democracy is possible but not suitable for Africa.

  George Ayittey

  Party, Style, Western

  "Why Western-style democracy is not suitable for Africa" by George Ayittey, www.cnn.com. August 20, 2010.

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