Quotes on Democracy

I will step outside the system. Voting for the “lesser evil”-or failing to vote at all-is part of the corporate agenda to crush what is left of our anemic democracy. And those who continue to participate in the vaudeville of a two-party process, who refuse to confront in every way possible the structures of corporate power, assure our mutual destruction.

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country.

Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy.

The point about democracy is not that it delivers legitimate, effective, prosperous rule of law. It's not that it guarantees peace with itself or with its neighbors. ... Democracy matters because it reflects an idea of equality.

Winning Democracy for the Negro is winning the war for Democracy

An educated, enlightened & informed population is one of the surest ways of promoting the health of a democracy

Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy

The saddest life is that of a political aspirant under democracy. His failure is ignominious and his success is disgraceful.

Without democracy there is no freedom. Violence, no matter who is using it, is always reactionary.

Democracy, it appears, is a bit chancy. But its chances also depend on what we do ourselves

World War II proved a hypothesis that Alexis de Tocqueville advanced a century before: the war-fighting potential of a democracy is at its greatest when war is most intense; at its weakest when war is most limited. This is a lesson with enduring relevance to our own times - and our own wars.

From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict and promoting democracy.

The quality of democracy and the quality of journalism are deeply entwined.

It's hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news.

The media is absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government.

The whole purpose of democracy is that we may hold counsel with one another, so as not to depend upon the understanding of one man.

The progress of democracy seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history.

The real danger of democracy is, that the classes which have the power under it will assume all the rights and reject all the duties-that is, that they will use the political power to plunder those-who-have.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.