“The slave will be free. Democracy in America will yet be a glorious reality; and when the top-stone of that temple of freedom which our fathers left unfinished shall be brought forth with shoutings and cries of grace unto it, when our now drooping Liberty lifts up her head and prospers, happy will he be who can say, with John Milton, "Among those who have something more than wished her welfare, I, too, have my charter and freehold of rejoicing to me and my heirs."” RealityAmericaFatherLeftLibertyDemocracyGraceCryStonesSlaveLiftsWelfareGloriousTemplesRejoiceOur FatherShoutingHeirsUnfinishedCharterMiltonDemocracy In America Book:Old portraits and modern sketches Source: Old portraits and modern sketches
“Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.” YearsLongHas BeensSeemsPoliticalPoliticsLeftDemocracyPoliticianConcernedGreedCorruptionVotingNerdElection DayArmourPoliticians And PoliticsFunny PoliticianI Hate PoliticsBad Politics Author:Richard Armour
“I have no intention of slurring over the differences we have with socialism, nor concealing my belief that we are the National Party of Great Britain, representing not narrow class interest, nor the bigotry of the left wing intellectuals, but all those who support the British tradition of democracy, of personal freedom, of personal responsibility for one's own affairs and those of one's family, with the least possible interference from the State.” StatesBeliefLeftInterestDifferencesPartyResponsibilityClassSupportDemocracyTraditionWingsIntentionAffairBritishSocialismBritainBigotryPersonal ResponsibilityRepresentingInterferenceGreat BritainLeft WingPersonal FreedomConcealing Author:Norman Tebbit
“We conceive the function of Tribune to be the expression in popular form, and to as large a public as possible, of the views of the Left and Marxist wing of social democracy in this country. Its policy must be that of those who believe that the present leadership of the Labour Party is not sufficiently Socialist.” BelieveCountryFormLeftSocialViewsPartyDemocracyPolicyExpressionFunctionWingsLabourSocialistMarxistLabour PartySocial Democracy Author:Anthony Crosland
“How can there be democracy if the leadership in the United States and Britain don't uphold the values which my father's generation fought the Nazis, millions of people gave their lives against the Soviet Union's regime, didn't they? Because of what? Democracy. And what democracy meant. No torture, no camps, no detention forever or without trial, without charges. In solitary confinement. Those techniques which are not just alleged, they have actually been written about by the FBI. I don't think it's being far left - I hope that I'm wrong to consider that it's far left to uphold the rule of law.” PeopleIfsThinkingStatesLawValuesFatherLeftUnitedMillionsUnited StatesForeverDemocracyWrittenGenerationsUnionsTechniqueTrialsTortureBritainCampsSovietRegimesSolitaryNaziSoviet UnionFbiRule Of LawConfinementDetentionSolitary Confinement Author:Vanessa Redgrave
“We have created a democracy that links us all, and with it come not only opportunities but obligations. There are no gates or walls high enough. There are no bank accounts large enough to buy you and your family and your friends protection from the fear and hunger of those left behind or to isolate you from the consequences of growing social inequities. We are all in this boat together. And the fact that there isn't a hole at your end of the boat doesn't mean you are safe.” MeanEndsEnoughFactsTogetherOpportunityLeftSocialBehindsDemocracyGrowingWallSafeConsequenceAccountsUnityHungerProtectionHolesObligationBoatOur FamilyGatesLinksLeft BehindBank Accounts Book:Fanatics & Fools: How Politicians are Betraying the American People Source: Fanatics & Fools: How Politicians are Betraying the American People
“This country has attained 'Swarajya', but unfortunately the dream of 'Surajya' is left unfulfilled. Today, if there is any major challenge before this country, it is that of a 'Surajya' and since the last decade, Gujarat is working in the direction of attaining Surajya.” IfsCountryDreamTodayLastsLeftChallengesDemocracyMajorsIndiaElectionDecadesGujarat Author:Narendra Modi
“One of the things that I realized when I left office was that in the 1990's citizens across the world applied more power than they had ever had, as compared with the government, because of more people living under democracies than dictatorships for the first time, the power of the internet, which the young Chinese used to basically change China's policy on the SARS epidemic, and shut it down, and because of the rise in non-governmental organizations like my foundation.” PeopleWorldFirstsGovernmentYoungUsedLeftDemocracyPolicyInternetCitizensOfficeFirst TimeOrganizationDown AndFoundationChinaI RealizedChineseDictatorshipEpidemicsSars Author:William J. Clinton
“This democracy... The elections in Iraq were held despite the American opposition. It was the will of the Iraqi people and the religious authorities. [The elections] were the result of pressure by Ayatollah Sistani, by the Iraqi religious authorities, and by the fighting forces in Iraq on America. They left the US no choice but to allow the elections.” PeopleAmericaChoicesFightingLeftForceReligiousResultsDemocracyAuthorityPressureElectionIraqDespiteOpposition Author:Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
“We say in a democracy that good ideas will drive out bad ones, so if the good ones aren't there, we're left with the bad ones” IfsIdeasLeftDemocracyGood Ideas Author:Barry McCaffrey
“Under theocracies and other authoritarian regimes, the rulers are the moral authorities. Under genuine democracy some basic values are entrenched in the legal system, which is expected to be under democratic vigilance, and others are left to the person or the group, which ideally debate moral problems in a rational, free and cooperative manner.” PersonsProblemValuesLeftMoralDemocracyGroupsAuthorityDemocraticExpectedDebateGenuineRationalRegimesRulersVigilanceCooperativesLegal SystemTheocracyMoral Authority Author:Mario Bunge
“The first and most important thing to understand about politics is this: forget Right, Left, Center, socialism, fascism, or democracy. Every government that exists - or ever existed, or ever will exist - is a kleptocracy, meaning "rule by thieves." Competing ideologies merely provide different excuses to separate the Productive Class from what they produce.” FirstsImportantDifferentGovernmentLeftForgetClassDemocracyProduceImportant ThingsExcuseSocialismIdeologyProductiveFascismThievesCompeting Author:L. Neil Smith
“Young people need to re-engage with politics. The life of democracy depends on it. We've left it to the stuff shirts, and obviously they haven't been minding the store.” PeopleNeedsYoungLeftStuffDemocracyHavensDependsStoresShirts Author:Emilio Estevez
“Science and democracy are the right and left hands of what I'll refer to as the move from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom.” HandsMovingLeftDemocracyRealmsLeft Hand Author:Karl Marx
“I am not one who, to quote an American author, believes that democracy and enterprise have finally won the battle of ideas - that we have therefore arrived at the end of history, and there is nothing left to fight for. That would be unutterably complacent, indeed foolish. There will always be threats to freedom, not only from frontal assaults, but more insidiously by erosion from within.” BelieveIdeasEndsWould BeFightingLeftDemocracyBattleThreatFoolishEnterpriseAssaultComplacentErosionAmerican Author Author:Margaret Thatcher
“The right tends to posit that the market fuels social good. The left tends to posit that the government fuels social good. At bottom, democracy claims that citizens drive social good, but there is currently no container for a political force-field that stakes claim to the unbelievable resources now virtually untapped in every man, woman, and child in our society.” MenChildrenGovernmentPoliticalLeftForceSocialDemocracyFieldsCitizensResourcesClaimsBottomEvery ManFuelOur SocietyStakesUnbelievableMen WomenContainersSocial GoodForce Fields Author:Marianne Williamson
“When the Berlin Wall fell and suddenly all those countries had burgeoning democracies, women were still being left out. The big turning point, about ten years ago, was moving from a notion of empowering women to actually looking at where you can make the most difference, and it's in a girl's life.” YearsStillsCountryBigsMovingGirlLeftDifferencesDemocracyWallTenYears AgoNotionEmpoweringEmpowering WomenBerlinTurning PointsLeft OutBerlin Wall Author:Kathy Calvin
“In the early period of Left struggles, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, there were many different trajectories for the struggle, whether you call it 'syndicalism' or 'anarchism' or, at the time, 'social democracy', eventually 'Communism', these were different theories of struggle. But all of them shared a basic understanding that the people...experience exploitation, they experience oppression, but they're not prepared to rise up.” PeopleDifferentLeftSocialUnderstandingStruggleDemocracyCenturyTheoryPeriodsLatePreparedOppressionCommunismExploitationTwentieth CenturyAnarchismTrajectorySocial Democracy Author:Vijay Prashad
“There is no "ruler" in our country. Poland is a democracy. Our Prime Minister leads the government; the President is fulfilling his tasks. But there is a little bit left for the party leader.” LittlesCountryGovernmentLeftBitsPresidentPartyLeaderDemocracyLittle BitTasksOur CountryMinistersPrimeRulersFulfillingPrime MinisterPoland Author:Jaroslaw Kaczynski
“If people, whether they are conservative or liberal, left or right, are unwilling to compromise and engage in the democratic process, and are taking absolutist views, and demonizing opponents, then democracy will break down.” PeopleIfsLeftProcessViewsBreakDemocracyDemocraticConservativeCompromiseOpponentsBreaking DownUnwillingDemocratic Process Author:Barack Obama
“All of those on the left, as I am, have always vastly preferred the democratic society over the hierarchical society and still do, but the democratic culture doesn't exist without highly informed citizens capable of thinking well, and if you have schools in which 40 percent of the people coming out of them cannot make change for a dollar, you don't have a democracy. You have a sibling society.” PeopleIfsThinkingWellsStillsSchoolCultureLeftDemocracyCitizensCapablePercentDollarsDemocraticComing OutSiblingDemocratic SocietyInformed Citizens Author:Robert Bly
“This rationale, which justified the mixed constitution of Great Britain, might have made some sense in 1776, but by 1787 most American thinkers had come to believe that all parts of their balanced governments represented in one way or another the sovereign people. They had left the Aristotelian idea of mixed estates - monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy - way behind. [John] Adams had not, and his stubbornness on this point caused him no end of trouble.” PeopleWayBelieveMadeIdeasEndsGovernmentMightLeftBehindsDemocracyTroubleConstitutionOne WayBritainThinkerBalancedEstatesSovereignJustifiedMonarchyAristocracyStubbornnessGreat BritainRationale Author:Gordon S. Wood