To view the opposition as dangerous is to misunderstand the basic concepts of democracy. To oppress the opposition is to assault the very foundation of democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi, Letters From Burma
Representative government is artifice, a political myth, designed to conceal from the masses the dominance of a self-selected, self-perpetuating, and self-serving traditional ruling class. Giuseppe Prezzolini
Those in power must spend a lot of their time laughing at us. Alice Walker
Democracy is reproached with saying that the majority is always right. But progress says that the minority is always right. G K Chesterton, What I Saw in America
If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep. G K Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
This is the permanent tension that lies at the heart of a capitalist democracy and is exacerbated in times of crisis. In order to ensure the survival of the richest, it is democracy that has to be heavily regulated rather than capitalism. Tariq Ali, The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad
But a democracy is bound in the end to be obscene, for it is composed of myriad disunited fragments, each fragment assuming to itself a false wholeness, a false individuality. Modern democracy is made up of millions of frictional parts all asserting their own wholeness. D H Lawrence, Apocalypse
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. Charles Bukowski
Capitalism is against the things that we say we believe in – democracy, freedom of choice, fairness. It’s not about any of those things now. It’s about protecting the wealthy and legalizing greed. Michael Moore
Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who’ll get the blame. Bertrand Russell
Democracy is hypocrisy without limitation. Iskander Mirza
Democracy as a system has evolved into something that Thomas Jefferson didn’t anticipate. Hunter S Thompson
Our elections are a fucking charade. And tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, they’re selling your life under you – don’t you ever fucking forget it either. Bill Hicks
Do you know something, we are going to win the state of Florida. You can mark my words. You can write it down. George W Bush with Jeb Bush, state governor, on plane
It is a special day for America. It is a day in which our nation confirms the fact that we trust democracy. A peaceful transference of power. George W Bush
What is at stake is the integrity of our democracy. Al Gore
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections. Lord Acton
Democratic elections alone do not remedy the crisis of confidence in government. Moreover, there is no viable justification for a democratic system in which public participation is limited to voting. Beth Simone Noveck
The ‘democracy gap’ in our politics and elections spells a deep sense of powerlessness by people who drop out, do not vote, or listlessly vote for the ‘least worst’ every four years and then wonder why after every cycle the ‘least worst’ gets worse. Ralph Nader
But that the people are stronger than the government, and will resist in extreme cases, our governments would be little or nothing else than organized systems of plunder and oppression. Lysander Spooner
Advertising is the very essence of democracy. Anton Chekhov
In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist. It is against natural order that the great number should govern and that the few should be governed. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract III:4
The very right to vote imposes on me the duty to instruct myself in public affair, however little influence my voice may have in them. ibid. III:11
Success allowed the Athenians to decorate their city with some of the most beautiful buildings the world has ever seen, and to fund a political system whose ideals we still live by today ... The idea that votes, not wealth or breeding, should determine politics. Michael Scott, Delphi: The Bellybutton of the Ancient World, BBC 2010
The Speaker’s podium still survives. ibid.
It was the Athenian democracy that ran the oppressive Athenian empire. ibid.
The birth of democracy and a new role for luxury ... Led by a man called Cleisthenes, invoked the mass of the people, to break the power of its enemies ... The rule of the people: one man one vote ... Democracy was established in Athens in 508 B.C. Dr Michael Scott, Guilty Pleasures I: Luxury in Ancient Greece: Nothing in Excess, BBC 2013
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and under-nourishment. Robert M Hutchins
Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy as they undoubtedly are today. Mahatma Gandhi
Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. Atifete Jahjaga
Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards. Aeschines
Democracy passes into despotism. Plato
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear. Alan Coren
Consequences for society of lack of legal protection for scientists: block in information flow; depriving people of their democratic right to know; one-sided unbalanced debate; depriving people of their right to influence future; manipulation of public opinion; loss of democratic rights of calling wrongdoers to account; jeopardy of public health. Professor Susan Bardocz, Alternative View II conference lecture, re the sacking of Dr Putsztai
For the independence of science this is a very dangerous situation. Accepting money from the biochemical industry which has aggressively set out to dominate life and society makes scientists and science the servants of multinational companies. As they are most of the time outside democratic control and accountability, these big corporations may threaten our democratic institutions and corrupt politicians, civil servants and scientists. ibid.
It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny. James F Cooper
Lord Darlington gave another sigh. ‘We’re always the last, Stevens. Always the last to be clinging on to outmoded systems. But sooner or later, we’ll need to face up to the facts. Democracy is something for a bygone era. The world’s far too complicated a place now for universal suffrage and the like. For endless members of parliament debating things to a standstill. All fine a few years ago perhaps, but in today’s world?’ Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day p198
We need to hold people accountable. We don’t do that in this country. Mubarak was untouchable for a long time. And then people got rid of him, and now the army is untouchable. So there’s always someone. We need to get to a point where nobody is beyond criticism, where nobody is untouchable. Shahira Abouellail
It’s a pleasure to be in a country that isn’t ruled by its people. Prince Philip to Paraguay dictator General Stroessner
In a democracy there is no place for mob violence. The Sound of Fury 1950 starring Frank Lovejoy & Lloyd Bridges & Kathleen Ryan & Richard Carlson & Katherine Locke & Adale Jergens & Art Smith et al, director Cyril Endfield, Sheriff