2,003 Quotes About Democracy

My problem with democracy is that it doesn't exist. I'm not opposed to it. And I'm not opposed to the tooth fairy either.

Democracy rests on the principle of majority rule, yet it’s eternally coupled with the tolerance of dissenting views. However, ongoing competitive party politics has demeaned the role of opposition. Though it’s explicitly visible that the present Government has yet to accomplish many feats. Still, you can’t deny the fact that they have outwitted in holding the nerve of the people in terms of their narratives. That’s what you need when the opposition becomes dysfunctional.

Anyone familiar with party systems has seen the disgust one party member is apt to show toward another whom he may really know nothing about other than that he is one of "the enemies." He cannot afford to know much about the person, for then he risks finding some redeeming feature in his enemy, and this is unacceptable. Any redemption for the enemy is a failure for propaganda which seeks separation between individuals; communion is defeat.

I don't want everybody to vote... As a matter of fact, our leverage in the election quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

Your party man, however excellent his intentions may be, is always opposed to any limitation of sovereignty. He regards himself as the next in succession, and handles gently the property that is to come to him, even while his opponents are its tenants.

In the United States, the majority takes upon itself the task of supplying to the individual a mass of ready-made opinions, thus relieving him of the necessity to take the proper responsibility of arriving at his own.

The first law of bureaucracy is to guarantee its own continuance.

We have become so used to thinking of domestic politics in terms of party politics that we are inclined to forget that the conflict between [the party system and the council system] has always been a conflict between parliament, the source and seat of power of the party system, and the people, who have surrendered their power to their representatives.

One could well imagine that if seven out of ten cavemen wanted to do a thing collectively in one way and the three others decided differently, the majority of these cavemen (assuming that they are of about equal bodily strength) could force the rest to accept their decision. The rule of majorities in combination with the employment of brutal force, is likely be the most primitive form of government in the of mankind.