Democracy Quotes - Page 2

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.

What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.

The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy - then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece. Probably the rarest form of life in American politics is the man who can turn on a crowd & still keep his head straight - assuming it was straight in the first place.

Of what good is democracy if it is not for the poor?

In Europe democracy is a falsehood. I do not know where it will end, but it cannot end in a quiet old age.

We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote.

Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires.

The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.

Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.

Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.

Today, I am an inquisitor. I shall not sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.

The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.

In our so-called democracy we are accustomed to give the majority what they want rather than educate them to understand what is best for them.

You have fewer rights because you are a minority. Absolutely, that’s how democracy works.

Democracy is not compatible with financial oligarchy.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.

Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.

Democracy and liberty are not the same. Democracy is little more than mob rule, while liberty refers to the sovereignty of the individual.

If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.

America has no functioning democracy at this moment.

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Freedom is not an end. Freedom is a beginning.

We are on the precipice of being so ignorant that our democracy is threatened.

Through money, democracy becomes its own destroyer, after money has destroyed intellect.