#democracy

The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition. ↗

— John Acton

#absolute power #authority #based #between #choices

I fear you do not fully comprehend the danger of abridging the liberties of the people. Nothing but the very sternest necessity can ever justify it. A government had better go to the very extreme of toleration, than to do aught that could be construed into an interference with, or to jeopardize in any degree, the common rights of its citizens. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#freedom #philosophy #freedom

I also know that there have been many times in our history when the proximity of an election has induced exactly the kind of leadership and consensus-building that produce progress in our democracy. ↗

— Joe Lieberman

#been #democracy #election #exactly #history

I've always been very interested in the struggle for human rights, not just here but abroad, and I wanted to be an inside player in that struggle. I wanted to make the laws reflect our ideals and ideas in this democracy that is America. ↗

— Leah Ward Sears

#always #america #been #democracy #here

Inflation is bringing us true democracy. For the first time in history, luxuries and necessities are selling at the same price. ↗

— Robert Orben

#democracy #first #first time #history #inflation

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

#bring #cannot #cut #democracy #ensure

The major western democracies are moving towards corporatism. Democracy has become a business plan, with a bottom line for every human activity, every dream, every decency, every hope. The main parliamentary parties are now devoted to the same economic policies — socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor — and the same foreign policy of servility to endless war. This is not democracy. It is to politics what McDonalds is to food. ↗

— John Pilger

#democracy #politics #business

Had he lived some centuries ago, in the brightly coloured civilizations of the past, he would have had a definite status, his rank and his income would have corresponded. But in his day the angel of Democracy had arisen, enshadowing the classes with leathern wings, and proclaiming, "All men are equal--all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas... ↗

— E.M. Forster

#democracy #equality #inequality #equality

You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker ↗

— Malcolm X

#democracy #freedom #history #hope #individualism

Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#democracy #funny #humour #politics #revolution