“Investment that only goes to enrich an already wealthy elite bent on monopolizing both economic and political power cannot contribute toward égalité and justice - the foundation stones for a sound democracy.” PoliticalSoundJusticeDemocracyEconomicStonesFoundationInvestmentWealthyElitesBentPolitical PowerMonopolizing Author:Aung San Suu Kyi
“So many of the new nations which were established as democracies after the second world war, during the decolonizing process, have now changed their system to state-socialism. Small elites run them, and they aren't sharing societies. They aren't even socialist. The power of the state has been merged with business property and you have the greatest concentration of power that's possible.” WorldHas BeensWarStatesRunningPoliticsNationsProcessEconomyDemocracyChangedPropertySocialismWar Of The WorldsLiberalismConcentrationElitesSocialistSecond World War Author:Daniel Patrick Moynihan
“As even a democracy like the United States has shown, waging war can benefit a leader in several ways: it can rally citizens around the flag, it can distract them from bleak economic times, and it can enrich a country's elites.” WayWarCountryStatesUnitedLeaderUnited StatesDemocracyEconomicCitizensBenefitsFlagsElitesBleakWaging War Author:Samantha Power
“Democracy is always harmful to elite interests. Almost by definition.” InterestDemocracyDefinitionsElites Author:Noam Chomsky
“As the only class distinction available in a democracy, the college degree has created a caste society as rigid as ancient India's. Condemning elitism and simultaneously quaking in fear that our children won't become members of the elite, we send them to college, not to learn, but to "be" college graduates, rationalizing our snobbery with the cliché that high technology has eliminated the need for the manual labor that we secretly hold in contempt.” NeedsChildrenEducationClassTechnologyDemocracyCollegeMembersDegreesLaborIndiaOur ChildrenAncientAvailableDistinctionContemptGraduatesElitesManualsCastesCollege EducationCondemningElitismSnobberyCollege DegreeCollege GraduatesManual LaborAncient IndiaClass DistinctionHigh Technology Book:Lump It Or Leave It Source: Lump It Or Leave It
“We all accuse Vladimir Putin of Cold War nostalgia, but Washington's elites - politicians and intellectuals - miss the old days as well. They wish for the world in which the United States was utterly dominant over its friends, its foes were to be shunned entirely, and the challenges were stark, moral, and vital. Today's world is messy and complicated. China is one of our biggest trading partners and our looming geopolitical rival. Russia is a surly spoiler, but it has a globalized middle class and has created ties in Europe.” WorldWellsWarStatesRealityTodayPoliticsWishCommunityChallengesLeadershipUnitedMoneyMoralClassHistoryUnited StatesDemocracyGenerationsMiddleMissingPolicyColdPoliticianEthicsEuropeTradeStrategyHuman RightsChinaComplicatedNostalgiaPartnersRussiaIdeologyTiesMiddle ClassOver ItElitesForeign PolicyDominantCold WarTradingDiplomacyFoeFree MarketRivalsCivilityMessyPutinOld DaysStarksToday's WorldLoomingGeopoliticalSurlySpoilersTrading Partners Author:Fareed Zakaria
“...dissent, protest, presures of a wide variety that escape elite control can modify the calculus of costs of planners, and offer a slight hope that Washington can be compelled to permit at least some steps towards "justice, freedom and democracy" within its domains.” JusticeStepsDemocracyCostOffersWideVarietyProtestPermitElitesCompelledDomainDissentCalculusPlanners Author:Noam Chomsky
“In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state - as if this state were fragile and needed protection - when in fact, it's too powerful already.” IfsTryingStatesFactsIndividualPowerfulDemocracyNeededProtectNormalProtectionFragileElitesTurkeys Author:Elif Safak
“The question is, how do you stop the power elite from doing as much damage to you as possible? That comes through movements. It's not our job to take power. You could argue that the most powerful political figure in April of 1968 was Martin Luther King. And we know Johnson was terrified of him. We have to accept that all of the true correctives to American democracy came through these movements that never achieved formal political power and yet frightened the political establishment enough to respond.” KnowsEnoughJobsPoliticalPowerfulAcceptingDemocracyFiguresMovementKingsArguingDamageMost PowerfulFrightenedEstablishmentElitesFormalTerrifiedLutherAprilJohnsonPolitical PowerAmerican Democracy Author:Chris Hedges
“It's this mingling of the economic and political elite which is really destroying our democracy.” PoliticalDemocracyEconomicDestroyingElitesMingling Author:Jill Stein
“In the words of Louis Brandeis, the Supreme Court justice, we have a choice between a democracy or vast concentrations of wealth. We have vast concentrations of wealth which has bought its way into our democracy with its political leaders who exemplify the merger of that economic and political elite.” WayPoliticalChoicesWealthJusticeLeaderDemocracyEconomicCourtSupremeConcentrationElitesSupreme CourtPolitical LeadersMergersSupreme Court JusticeCourt JusticeLouis BrandeisConcentration Of Wealth Author:Jill Stein
“I think we need to be a superpower of human rights, of support for true grassroots democracy, not corporatist economic development, which suits our economic elite but has not been helpful to the cause of democracies around the world.” ThinkingWorldNeedsHumansCausesSupportDemocracyRightsEconomicDevelopmentHuman RightsSuitsAround The WorldHelpfulElitesSuperpowerEconomic DevelopmentGrassroots Author:Jill Stein
“It's a democracy, and the reason why the conservative movement loses is because it believes that it is elite, that the smartest in its midst who have gone to the right schools and who have worked at the right think tanks and have the right opinions and the right friends can run it for the rest of America. That's why I'm a Tea Party adherent over a Republican or conservative establishment adherent.” ThinkingBelieveReasonRunningSchoolAmericaLosesPartyOpinionGoneDemocracyMovementRepublicanConservativeTeaReason WhyMidstEstablishmentElitesTanksTea Party Author:Andrew Breitbart
“When considering the Islamic world, Turkey is the best example of a country where democracy irreversibly gained a foothold despite religious and cultural traditions still respected today. With some reservation, this can be said about Pakistan, too, where we can observe dynamic political processes going on [and] governments change as a result of elections. In my opinion, it is up to the ruling elite to initiate cardinal changes.” WorldSaidStillsCountryGovernmentTodayPoliticalProcessReligiousResultsOpinionDemocracyExampleTraditionElectionDespiteIslamicElitesConsideringPakistanRulingTurkeysCardinalsReservationsInitiate Author:Garry Kasparov