“To balance China, the democracies will need new friends - and India with its fast-growing economy, youthful population, and democratic politics seems the obvious candidate.” NeedsSeemsEconomyDemocracyGrowingBalanceIndiaDemocraticPopulationObviousChinaCandidatesNew FriendsGrowing Economy Author:David Frum
“Democracy in Iraq will be an example that the Arab population will look to with great interest. And some Arab governments are concerned about democracy in Iraq, not because Iraq will be an aggressive state against them, but rather by the example that will be set by a successful federal democratic state in Iraq.” LooksStatesGovernmentInterestDemocracySuccessfulExampleConcernedDemocraticIraqPopulationAggressive Author:Ahmed Chalabi
“Today the United States has the highest prison population in the world, over 2.1 million people. ... We lock people up at a rate that is seven to ten times that of any other democracy.” PeopleWorldStatesTodayUnitedMillionsUnited StatesDemocracyTenHighestPrisonSevenRatePopulationLocksPrison Population Book:Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World Source: Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World
“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
“Majorities can be wrong, majorities can overrule rights of minorities. If majorities ruled, we could still have slavery. 80% of the population once enslaved 20% of the population. While run by majority rule that is ok. That is very flawed notion of what democracy is. Democracy has to take into account several things - proportionate requirements of people, not just needs of the majority, but also needs of the minority. Majority, especially in societies where the media manipulates public opinion, can be totally wrong and evil. People have to act according to conscience and not by majority vote.” PeopleIfsNeedsStillsRunningEvilOpinionDemocracyRightsMediaConscienceVoteAccountsSlaveryMajorityNotionPopulationMinoritiesRequirementsPublic OpinionManipulateFlawedDemocracies HaveEvil PeopleMajority RuleMajority Vote Author:Howard Zinn
“It took six weeks of debate in the Senate to get the Arms Embargo Law repealed--and we face other delays during the present session because most of the Members of the Congress are thinking in terms of next Autumn's election. However, that is one of the prices that we who live in democracies have to pay. It is, however, worth paying, if all of us can avoid the type of government under which the unfortunate population of Germany and Russia must exist.” IfsThinkingGovernmentFacesLawNextTermPayDemocracyWeekArmsTypeMembersSixElectionCongressPopulationDebateRussiaGermanyAutumnSenateDictatorshipUnfortunateDelaySessionDemocracies HaveEmbargo Author:Franklin D. Roosevelt
“All democracies turn into dictatorships - but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea.” PeopleGivingIdeasTurnsDemocracyPopulationDictatorshipDictatorJuliusCoups Author:George Lucas
“With growing and intermixed minority populations, our democracy can not work optimally unless all people are integrated as full and equal members, and I think our collective freedom requires that.” PeopleThinkingDemocracyGrowingEqualMembersPopulationMinoritiesCollectivesCan NotIntegrated Author:Richard Benjamin
“I think that the influence of people with power and money to distort democracy and have their interests served before the rest of the population is the biggest problem. That is caused by two things: campaign finance and the way that's structured, and by the Citizen's United supreme court decision. So those two things are keeping democracy from working right.” PeopleThinkingWayTwoProblemInterestDecisionUnitedDemocracyInfluenceCitizensCourtPopulationCampaignsSupremeFinanceTwo ThingsSupreme CourtCampaign FinanceCourt Decision Author:Shepard Fairey
“The neoliberal programs of the last generation have in fact been, and were intended to be, a pretty serious attack on democracy, but also they've led to stagnation or decline for large parts of the population - the working class, the lower middle class, these people have essentially been cast aside.” PeopleFactsLastsClassDemocracyGenerationsMiddleSeriousProgramCastsPopulationMiddle ClassDeclineWorking ClassStagnation Author:Noam Chomsky
“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
“The Second World War ended with a radicalization of the population in the United States and everywhere else, and called for all kinds of things like popular takeovers, government intervention, and worker takeovers of factories. Business propagated a tremendous propaganda offensive. The scale surprised me when I read the scholarship - it's enormous, and it's been very effective. There were two major targets: one is unions, the other is democracy.” WorldKindTwoWarStatesGovernmentUnitedUnited StatesDemocracyMajorsUnionsWorkersPopulationScalesEnormousAll KindsPropagandaWar Of The WorldsTargetFactoriesOffensiveInterventionScholarshipSecond World WarTakeoversGovernment Intervention Author:Noam Chomsky
“Such a small percentage of our population carry the burden of knowing what's really going on in our country's name, and I think that unless that's out in the open and people are discussing it, then our healthy democracy is not so healthy.” PeopleThinkingCountryNamesKnowingDemocracyHealthyPopulationBurdenOur CountryPercentagesDiscussing Author:Lisa Ling