Everyone knew that democracy - direct rule by all the people - required such spartan, soul-denying virtue on the part of all the people that it was likely to survive only where poverty made upright behavior necessary for the perpetuation of the race.
A legitimate democracy cannot act against a terror organization because it is using civilians as a human shield, and therefore it should absorb attacks on its own civilians.
We do not know what is being done in our name. Worse, we do not ask.
We were on the way to democracy. We didn't say that we are fully democratic, we were on the way, we were moving forward. Slowly or fast, that's subjective, cannot be objective, that's always subjective. But we're moving forward in that regard.
You cannot have democracy without the institutions. You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people.
It is not my democracy as a person; it is our democracy as a society.
We say in a democracy that good ideas will drive out bad ones, so if the good ones aren't there, we're left with the bad ones
We need to give the Iraqis a chance to build their own future. It should be in their hands. It must be in their hands. That is what democracy is all about. We can teach it, we can explain it, but they must want it enough to make it work for them.
We have to be realistic about what we can achieve in Afghanistan. The notion that the United States can build a Western-style democracy there is a myth
Our democracy is the centerpiece of who we are as a nation. And it is the fondest hope of all Americans that we can help bring democracy to every corner of the world.
In America, the system itself of democracy is being threatened.
If people, whether they are conservative or liberal, left or right, are unwilling to compromise and engage in the democratic process, and are taking absolutist views, and demonizing opponents, then democracy will break down.
In the United States, if 43 percent of eligible voters do not vote, then democracy is weakened.
Nobody said democracies supposed to be easy. It's hard. And in a big country like America, it probably should be hard.
That is the nature of democracy. It is hard. It is not always inspiring.
Donald Trump will be the next president, the 45th President of the United States. And it will be up to him to set up a team that he thinks will serve him well and reflect his policies. And those who didn't vote for him have to recognize that that's how democracy works. That's how this system operates.
What I've said is we're going to encourage democracy in Pakistan, expand our nonmilitary aid to Pakistan so that they have more of a stake in working with us, but insisting that they go after these militants.
We are not going to be able to rebuild Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy.
The second thing we have to do is to make sure that all of us think about how we approach our elections and our democracy not only to secure them from vote tampering, but also to make sure that we understand when propaganda is being churned through the system.
Democracy is hard work.
[We should beware] that our democracy stays healthy. And making sure that we maintain that sense of solidarity.
In our democracy and our civic discourse, it seems as if folks who take religion the most seriously are sometimes also those who are suspicious of those not like them.
Mandela's commitment to democracy was ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power
I'd like to think that "President Obama believed deeply in this democracy and the American people."
I think that America has to stand with democracy.
