Famous quote by Brooks Atkinson

"After each war there is a little less democracy to save"

About this Quote

Each armed conflict waged in the name of defending democratic values leaves behind not just physical and emotional scars but also subtle, persistent erosion of the very ideals it claims to protect. War demands extraordinary measures, restrictions on freedoms, centralized authority, heightened surveillance, and justification of actions once deemed intolerable in times of peace. These become emergency norms, blurring the line between necessity and permanent policy.

When societies mobilize for war, they often suspend civil liberties for security or expediency. Free press may be censored, dissenting voices stifled, and legal protections overruled by executive decrees. When the threat ends, these limitations are seldom fully rolled back. Pieces of the emergency remain, woven into postwar policies and attitudes, leading to a quieter, less noticeable constriction of democratic space.

The psychology of war reinforces this danger. Citizens, swept up in patriotism and the urgent rhetoric of existential stakes, accept and sometimes demand restrictions to guarantee safety. Over time, skepticism towards state power wanes, and a more deferential, less questioning public emerges. Leaders, empowered by crisis, become reluctant to relinquish their expanded roles.

Meanwhile, the aftermath of war can leave behind institutions or practices, secret police, unchecked intelligence agencies, a culture of surveillance, national security laws, designed for crisis but normalized in peace. Each conflict thus leaves democracy incrementally diminished. Its mechanisms, transparency, accountability, pluralism, tolerance, are traded, bit by bit, for the illusion of safety or unity in times of trial.

Cumulatively, these small erosions threaten the revival and continuation of open society. Efforts to reclaim lost rights may wane as generations forget liberties once taken for granted, assuming postwar constraints as the natural order. The implicit warning is clear: the more often democracy is "saved" at the price of its own fundamental freedoms, the less of it remains to defend next time.

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About the Author

USA Flag This quote is written / told by Brooks Atkinson between November 28, 1894 and January 14, 1984. He/she was a famous Critic from USA. The author also have 9 other quotes.
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