#democracy

I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows. ↗

— Katherine Graham

#decide #democracy #flourishes #government #i

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage. ↗

— Alexander Fraser Tytler

#federal-spending #fiscal-policy #age

The very design of neoliberal principles is a direct attack on democracy. ↗

— Noam Chomsky

#democracy #neoliberalism #design

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

#government #oligarchy #plutocracy #voting #design

And when I speak, I don't speak as a Democrat. Or a Republican. Nor an American. I speak as a victim of America's so-called democracy. You and I have never seen democracy - all we've seen is hypocrisy. When we open our eyes today and look around America, we see America not through the eyes of someone who has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism. We see America through the eyes of someone who has been the victim of Americanism. We don't see any American dream. We've experienced only the American nightmare. ↗

— Malcolm X

#deception #democracy #hypocrisy #liberty #oppression

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletariat to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeoisie. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#politics #dreams

What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind. America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who -- with their hands, their intelligence and their heart -- built the greatest nation in the world: ‘Come, and everything will be given to you.’ She said: ‘Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent. ↗

— Nicolas Sarkozy

#america #democracy #freedom #opportunity #usa

America operates under the notion of equality before the law. Basic fairness is an article of faith. We may not agree on everything all of the time, but we select our leaders together. And when we don’t want them anymore, we get rid of them. ↗

— Keith Ellison

#equality #politics #equality

Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. ↗

— Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

#democracy #freedom #history #hope #individualism

Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement. ↗

— Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

#democracy #freedom #marxism #radicalism #rebellion