Democracy Quotes

"Judicial review has been a part of our democracy in this constitutional government for over 200 years"

"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"

Carter G. Woodson, Historian

"Democracy may have arisen in the West as the way of striving for the universal aspiration to dignity and freedom, but it isn't alien to the underlying concepts that infuse religion and moral philosophy everywhere"

Flora Lewis, Journalist

"Well, one of the first things is to restore the rule of law, to place the government back under the cage of law. Another thing is to stop falling for the myth of democracy"

James Bovard, Author

"The challenge as we saw in the Nigerian project was to restructure the economy decisively in the direction of a modern free market as an appropriate environment for cultivation of freedom and democracy and the natural emergence of a new social order"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Everything has to be done to build some sort of international democracy. We've seen only the tiniest beginnings of that"

Susan George, Activist

"The more that social democracy develops, grows, and becomes stronger, the more the enlightened masses of workers will take their own destinies, the leadership of their movement, and the determination of its direction into their own hands"

Rosa Luxemburg, Activist

"In brief, Western democracy, as other political models, is not exportable to all regions of the world"

Omar Bongo, Statesman

"I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that"

Walter Cronkite, Journalist

"Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they're both just aspirin"

Gore Vidal, Novelist

"If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are the conditions for development"

Kofi Annan, Statesman

"The nature of a democracy consists to an important degree in the right of the people to criticize problems and mistakes"

Walter Ulbricht, Politician

"We Americans have the great gifts of freedom and democracy, but it has been our education system that has fulfilled the promise of democracy"

James E. Rogers, Educator

"So I think that if we want to have a Congress, if we want to have government that looks like America, if we want to have government that is truly a representative Democracy, then we need to clearly address how we get our campaign laws out of the way of Democracy"

Carol Moseley Braun, Politician

"Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy"

Corazon Aquino, President

"In order to build basic democracy here we'll need lives of two generations - at least forty years"

Aleksandr Lebed, Politician

"The American flag is an enduring symbol of liberty, democracy, and justice. It is fitting that the House act to protect it as we approach our nation's birthday, and as our men and women in uniform rally behind it in Iraq's battlefields"

Joe Barton, Politician

"We Chileans have to be able to understand that in a democracy institutions must function freely and with sovereignty"

Ricardo Lagos, Politician

"America is stronger than ever. We will forever remember those we lost on September 11, 2001. In honoring their memory, we will remain true to our commitment to freedom and democracy"

Evan Bayh, Politician

"Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course - because, like democracy and freedom, many people you'll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you"

Alice Duer Miller, Poet

"Too many people expect wonders from democracy, when the most wonderful thing of all is just having it"

Walter Winchell, Journalist

"America is not just a democracy, it represents a certain culture of competitive mobility and personality aspirations, politics is not merely a clash of interests, but a clash of dreams"

David Brooks, Politician

"America must be the teacher of democracy, not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard"

Mikhail Gorbachev, Statesman

"My door will always be open to those who genuinely renounce violence and seek peaceful accommodation into our nascent democracy"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"We cannot cut and run. If we are to ensure freedom and democracy, it is essential that we follow through on our obligation to bring about stability in Iraq"

Richard Shelby, Politician

"Liberal democracy must finally become the vital element of our society"

Gustav Heinemann, Politician

"Democracy must learn to defend itself"

Mikhail Gorbachev, Statesman

"Ukraine is also successfully moving toward democracy and making progress expanding freedoms and rights to its people. We can help Ukraine achieve these goals and improve its economy by normalizing trade relations"

Vito Fossella, Politician

"Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates"

Gore Vidal, Novelist

"The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy"

Mikhail Gorbachev, Statesman

"The problem with the United Nations is that while democracy within nations is the best available form of government, democracy among nations can be a moral disaster - especially if some nations are not democracies"

Jonah Goldberg, Celebrity

"I left Russia in 1993 optimistic that democracy had taken hold despite the obstacles"

Robert Kagan, Writer

"From a monarchy followed by suffering under Communism, Ethiopians must be given the opportunity to flourish under the greatest of systems - democracy"

Jack Kingston, Politician

"Not less, but more democracy - that is the demand, that is the great goal that we have to prescribe for ourselves, and especially for our youth"

Gustav Heinemann, Politician

"Congress is functioning the way the Founding Fathers intended-not very well. They understood that if you move too quickly, our democracy will be less responsible to the majority"

Barber B. Conable, Jr.

"Democratic societies can no longer give religious fanatics a free hand to abuse and murder non believers. Such action betrays contempt for the basic human rights which animate any democracy with meaning"

Armstrong Williams, Journalist

"Those religions that are oppressive to women are also against democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression"

Taslima Nasrin, Writer

"The history of our country is not the history of any other country in the world which is either practicing advanced democracy or struggling to lay the foundation for democracy"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"We have, essentially, a worthless democracy"

Aaron McGruder, Artist

"Nobody and nothing will stop Russia on the road to strengthening democracy and ensuring human rights and freedoms"

Vladimir Putin, President

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