I am not running for mayor yet. But if it comes to be true that people cannot voice an opinion unless they have been elected, then we are no longer in a democracy.
Interpretation
Margaret Atwood emphasizes the importance of free speech in a democracy, suggesting that everyone should be able to express opinions, regardless of their political status.
In this quote, Margaret Atwood warns against the dangerous notion that only elected officials are entitled to voice opinions in a democratic society. She advocates for the fundamental principle that in a democracy, every citizen should be able to articulate their thoughts and participate in discourse, regardless of whether they hold a position of power or authority. This underscores the essential nature of dialogue and dissent in maintaining a healthy democratic environment.
In practice
This quote could be used during a speech about the importance of civic engagement.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.
The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.
Politics abhors a vacuum, and Asian countries will gravitate towards China if U.S. influence is perceived as declining.
Mr. President, you’re entitled as a president to your own airplane, and to your own house, but not to your own facts.
I was surprised by the response of young people because there is a perception that those younger than the 1988 generation are not interested in politics.
We must try again to be alive to what the people of our country really long for in our national life: forgiveness and grace, maturity and wisdom. ...Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.
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