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Democracy Quotes

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Democracy Quotes

“We are a democracy, and there is only one way to get a democracy on its feet in the matter of its individual, its social, its municipal, its State, its National conduct, and that is by keeping the public informed about what is going on.There isnot a crime, there isnot a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy.Get these things out in the open, describe them, attack them, ridicule them in the press, and sooner or later public opinion will sweep them away.”

Way Doe Matter States Individual Social Opinion Democracy Feet Crime Presses Vices Tricks One Way Live By Sooner Or Later Ridicule Public Opinion Secrecy Dodge

Author:Joseph Pulitzer

“There are only two forces that can withstand the force of the war's spirit when it seizes upon the world. The one is the force of an independently thinking, free, and articulate democracy. The other is the force of an instructed and enlightened public opinion.”

Thinking World Two War Spirit Force Peace Opinion Democracy Enlightened Public Opinion

Author:Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence

“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.”

“Perhaps the best known, and certainly the most vaunted, "discovery" of modern public opinion research is the indifference and ignorance of a majority of the electorate in western democracies.”

Known Opinion Democracy Modern Ignorance Research Discovery Majority Western Indifference Public Opinion Electorate

Book:Democracy ancient and modern

Source: Democracy ancient and modern

“The only force at the disposal of democracy is that of public opinion.”

Force Opinion Democracy Public Opinion

Book:The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi

Source: The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi

“Democracy is just a filler for textbooks! Do you actually believe that public opinion influences the government?”

Believe Government Opinion Democracy Influence Public Opinion Textbooks Fillers

Author:Voltaire

“Democracy, finally, rests on a higher power than Parliament. It rests on an informed and cultivated and alert public opinion. The Members of Parliament are only representatives of the citizens. They cannot represent apathy and indifference. They can play the part allotted to them only if they represent intelligence and public spiritness.”

Ifs Play Opinion Democracy Higher Citizens Members Indifference Apathy Representatives Parliament Public Opinion Higher Power Members Of Parliament

Author:Eric Williams

“As believers in democracy we have not only the right but the duty to question existing mechanisms of, say, suffrage and to inquire whether some functional organization would not serve to formulate and manifest public opinion better than the existing methods. It is not irrelevant to the point that a score of passages could be cited in which Jefferson refers to the American Government as an experiment.”

Government Opinion Democracy Duty Organization Method Believer Experiments Score Manifest Passages Mechanism Irrelevant Public Opinion Suffrage American Government

Book:The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1938-1939

Source: The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1938-1939

“If the government is vulnerable to public opinion, then famines are a dreadfully bad thing to have. You cant win many elections after a famine, and you dont like being criticized by newspapers, opposition parties in parliament, and so on. Democracy gives the government an immediate political incentive to act.”