“The danger is not only that these austerity measures are killing the European economies but also that they threaten the very legitimacy of European democracies - not just directly by threatening the livelihoods of so many people and pushing the economy into a downward spiral, but also indirectly by undermining the legitimacy of the political system through this backdoor rewriting of the social contract.” PeoplePoliticalSocialEconomyDemocracyDangerKillingPushingContractsThreateningPolitical SystemsLivelihoodSpiralsLegitimacyRewritingUnderminingAusteritySocial ContractDownward SpiralBackdoor Author:Ha-Joon Chang
“Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.” NumbersDemocracyContractsMonarchyAristocracyDespotismSupremacyOligarchy Book:The History of Freedom (and other Essays) Source: The History of Freedom (and other Essays)
“Democracy is an experimental system. I like it when states try out new ideas. I think we ought to expand, not contract, our federalist system.” ThinkingTryingIdeasStatesDemocracyOughtContractsNew IdeasFederalist Author:Alex Tabarrok
“We began to temper Western democracy with what I'd call a social contract. We put in Social Security, graduated income tax, workers' compensation. We developed strong unions to negotiate with business owners so workers got an equitable share of the profits.” StrongSocialDemocracyShareSecurityTaxesUnionsWesternWorkersProfitIncomeOwnersContractsTemperSocial SecurityCompensationIncome TaxBusiness OwnersEquitableSocial Contract Author:John Shelby Spong