“The only ‘realistic’ prospect is to ground a new political universality by opting for the impossible, fully assuming the place of the exception, with no taboos, no a priori norms (‘human rights,’ ‘democracy’), respect for which would prevent us from ‘resignifying’ terror, the ruthless exercise of power, the spirit of sacrifice … if this radical choice is decried by some bleeding-heart liberals as Linksfaschismus, so be it!” IfsHumansHeartPoliticalSpiritChoicesDemocracyRightsImpossibleSacrificeExerciseAssumingHuman RightsTerrorRadicalExceptionRealisticNormRuthlessTabooBleedingUniversalityBleeding Heart Author:Slavoj Žižek
“Political democracy cannot flourish under all economic conditions. Democracy requires an economic system which supports the political ideals of liberty and equality for all. Men cannot exercise freedom in the political sphere when they are deprived of it in the economic sphere.” MenPoliticalPoliticsLibertySupportEconomyDemocracyEconomicConditionsExerciseIdealsLiberalismSpheresDeprivedEconomic SystemsEquality For AllLiberty And Equality Book:The Capitalist Manifesto Source: The Capitalist Manifesto
“Democracy is liberty - a liberty which does not infringe on the liberty nor encroach on the rights of others; a liberty which maintains strict discipline, and makes law its guarantee and the basis of its exercise. This alone is true liberty; this alone can produce true democracy.” DoeLawLibertyDemocracyRightsProduceDisciplineExerciseBasesGuaranteesStrictTrue Democracy Author:Chiang Kai-shek
“Democracy is about voting and it's about a majority vote. And it's time that we started exercising the Democratic process.” ProcessDemocracyExerciseVoteMajorityDemocraticVotingDemocratic ProcessMajority Vote Author:Debbie Stabenow
“All modes of government are failures. Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. Oligarchies are unjust to the many, and ochlocracies are unjust to the few. High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. It has been found out. I must say that it was high time, for all authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and degrades those over whom it is exercised.” PeopleMeanHas BeensMadeGovernmentFoundDemocracyExerciseAuthorityIncludingUnjustDespotismDegradeDegradingOligarchyDespots Author:Oscar Wilde
“Worldwide, the twentieth century has seen the rise of extraordinary concentrations of economic and political power - evoking the people as the source of power while simultaneously privatizing its most meaningful exercise. Democracy always seems to be at least slightly elusive under such conditions.” PeopleSeemsPoliticalDemocracyEconomicConditionsCenturySourceExerciseExtraordinaryMeaningfulConcentrationTwentieth CenturyElusivePolitical PowerMost Meaningful Author:Thomas L. Dumm
“If one meets a powerful person--Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates--ask them five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” PoliticalInterestPowerDemocracyFivePolicyPoliticianExerciseAccountabilityInterest Groups Author:Tony Benn
“I'm talking of the idea, basically very widespread in America, that the less government the better, which is obviously being used to the advantage of the big corporations, but none-the-less has very radical implications. The idea of a people that exercises a great deal of federalist or confederalist control, the ideal of a grass-roots type of democracy, the idea of the freedom of the individual which is not to get lost in the mazes of anarcho-egotism à la Stirner, or for that matter right-wing libertarianism.” PeopleIdeasMatterBigsGovernmentAmericaUsedIndividualLostDealsTalkingDemocracyTypeExerciseAdvantageIdealsRootsWingsRadicalCorporationsGrassLibertarianismEgotismImplicationsRight WingMazesFederalistBig Corporations Author:Murray Bookchin