“New information technologies-including email, the web, and computerized blast-faxes and phone calls-have fundamentally changed the landscape of political competition in modern democracies. They've done so in three ways: by dramatically boosting the access of individuals and special interests to politically potent information, by making it easier for such people to coordinate their activities and exert political power, and by greatly increasing the pace of events within our political systems.” PeopleWayDonePoliticalThreePoliticsIndividualInterestTechnologyDemocracyModernSpecialEventsInformationChangedInternetEasierActivityCompetitionIncludingPhonesAccessLandscapePaceEmailBlastPolitical SystemsPhone CallsInformation TechnologyPolitical PowerSpecial InterestsCoordinatesNew InformationThree WaysFax Author:Thomas Homer-Dixon
“Self-censorship as a result of intimidation or social pressures, sometimes referred to as "political correctness", constitutes a serious obstacle to the proper functioning of democracy. It is important to hear the views of all persons,including the "silent majority", and to give heed to the weaker voices.” GivingPersonsImportantSelfSometimesPoliticalSocialVoiceResultsViewsDemocracySeriousPressureMajoritySilentIncludingObstaclesCensorshipPolitical CorrectnessHeedCorrectnessIntimidationSocial PressureSelf CensorshipSilent Majority Author:Alfred-Maurice de Zayas
“Democracy entails a correlation between the public interest as expressed by a majority of the population and the governmental policies that affect them. The term encompasses various manifestations, including direct, participatory and representative democracy, but Governments must be responsive to people and not to special interests such as the military-industrial complex, financial bankers and transnational corporations. Democracy is inclusive and does not privilege an anthropological aristocracy.” PeopleDoeGovernmentTermInterestDemocracySpecialMilitaryPolicyDirectMajorityComplexesIncludingFinancialPrivilegePopulationVariousCorporationsManifestationRepresentativesBankersAristocracySpecial InterestsCorrelationPublic InterestMilitary Industrial ComplexTransnational Corporations Author:Alfred-Maurice de Zayas
“Every democracy must involve civil society in the process of establishing budgets, and all sectors of society must be consulted to determine what the real priorities of the population are. Lobbies, including military contractors and other representatives of the military-industrial complex, must not be allowed to hijack these priorities to the detriment of the population's real needs.” NeedsRealProcessDemocracyMilitaryComplexesIncludingPopulationDeterminePrioritiesBudgetsRepresentativesCivil SocietyMilitary Industrial ComplexContractor Author:Alfred-Maurice de Zayas
“America has value-based leadership. America is valued - America is followed by other nations, including my own nation, because it's based on the values that America has to offer to the rest of the world - freedom, freedom of choice, democracy, open market.” WorldAmericaValuesChoicesNationsMy OwnDemocracyOffersIncludingFreedom Of Choice Author:Mikhail Saakashvili
“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
“The Soviet Union attempted to export communism to the entire world. We know what came of that. Now the West is trying to export democracy, including to regions where there is no traditional foundation for it. That cannot end well.” KnowsWorldTryingWellsEndsDemocracyFoundationUnionsWestIncludingTraditionalCommunismRegionsSovietSoviet Union Author:Vladimir Yakunin
“There is always an element of realpolitik that has to be present in the conduct of any nation's national security affairs. At the same time, we have to also have a balance between realpolitik and Wilsonian principles of freedom and democracy and human rights. And maintaining that balance is the greatest challenge that we in the West, including the Federal Republic of Germany, have to face because it's many times a very difficult decision-making process.” HumansFacesNationsProcessDifficultChallengesDecisionPrinciplesDemocracyRightsSecurityBalanceElementsWestIncludingAffairHuman RightsGermanyDecision MakingRepublicNational SecurityMaintainingDifficult DecisionsDecision Making ProcessDemocracy And Human RightsRealpolitik Author:John McCain
“In this world which is losing faith in so called representative democracy, there are new developments in participatory democracy. These are very interesting developments, reflecting the revitalization of community power with a more and more active presence of minorities in political life, including the presence of women who are of course by no means a minority.” WorldMeanPoliticalCoursesCommunityInterestingDemocracyThis WorldDevelopmentLosingIncludingActiveMinoritiesRepresentativesVery InterestingReflectingPolitical LifeLosing FaithParticipatory DemocracyRevitalization Author:Eduardo Galeano
“So now is the time, more than ever, for those who truly value all the principles of democracy, especially including dissent, to be the most forceful in speaking up, standing up and speaking out.” ValuesPrinciplesDemocracyStandingIncludingDissentSpeaking OutSpeaking Up Author:Jim Hightower
“What created democracy was Thomas Paine and Shays Rebellion, the suffragists and the abolitionists and on down through the populists and the labor movement, including the Wobblies. Tough, in your face people... Mother Jones, Woody Guthrie... Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. And now it’s down to us.” PeopleFacesMotherDemocracyMovementKingsToughLaborIncludingRebellionYour FaceLutherWoodyPopulistAbolitionistLabor MovementPaineChavezShaySuffragists Author:Jim Hightower
“...governments, including free and democratic governments, are not really friendly to freedom and democracy. They abhor any rule of law that limits their powers and penchant for social engineering.” GovernmentLawSocialDemocracyLimitsDemocraticIncludingFriendlyEngineeringRule Of LawSocial EngineeringDemocratic Government Author:George Jonas
“The establishment can't admit [that] it is human rights violations that make ... countries attractive to business - so history has to be fudged, including denial of our support of regimes of terror and the practices that provide favorable climates of investment, and our destabilization of democracies that [don't] meet [the] standard of service to the transnational corporation.” HumansCountryPracticeSupportDemocracyRightsStandardsInvestmentClimateIncludingHuman RightsTerrorDenialCorporationsAttractiveEstablishmentRegimesViolationTransnational Corporations Author:Edward S. Herman
“I believe devoutly that the national election is the closest thing we have to a civic sacrament of democracy. And I really do think that heed must be paid, and when people make a decision, those who are on the other side, including me, accept it, for that reason.” PeopleThinkingBelieveReasonI BelieveSidesDecisionAcceptingDemocracyPaidElectionIncludingClosestSacramentsCivicsHeed Author:Mark Shields
“I did not suggest that Iran is a democracy; just the opposite. I talked about it being a repressive theocracy. What I think is indisputable is that even within this repressive regime, the political leaders there - including the Supreme Leader - are sensitive to the concerns of the population within bounds.” ThinkingPoliticalLeaderDemocracyConcernOppositesBoundsIncludingPopulationSupremeSensitiveIranRegimesPolitical LeadersTheocracy Author:Barack Obama