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Democracy Quotes

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Democracy Quotes

“People are constantly applying double standards. Take the United States, for example. Washington wants the whole world to admire the country for its democracy. Then the government sends out its army, in the name of this democracy, and leaves behind the kind of chaos we see in Iraq.”

People World Want Kind Country States Whole Government Names United Behinds United States Democracy Example Standards Army Chaos Iraq Whole World Admire Double Standard

Author:Jacob Zuma

“America must be the teacher of democracy, not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard.”

World America Democracy Teacher Standards Consumers Advertisers

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“there is that wish, in the name of democracy, to level down, because high cultural standards are despised and rejected, and even feared, in our Western Democracies. Don't let anyone else have what I've not got, or can't enjoy! - is the secret theory. A very large number of writers in the British and American popular press profess to be preaching democracy when in fact they are only trying to make envy respectable!”

Trying Facts Names Wish Enjoy Levels Numbers Secret Democracy Theory Standards Presses Western British Envy Preaching Rejected Respectable Despised Large Numbers

Author:Ann Bridge

“What we say is that democracy means that you have the right to vote without intimidation and undue burdens. But if you stand in line for six hours, technically, today there is no document, no standard, no law that says that that's wrong.”

Ifs Mean Today Law Hours Lines Democracy Six Standards Vote Burden Documents Intimidation Right To Vote

Author:DeForest Soaries

“You cannot apply your high standards to a country [Egypt] burdened with decades of autocratic rule. Our democracy is still in its infancy.”

Stills Country Democracy Standards Decades Egypt Infancy High Standards

Author:Mohamed ElBaradei

“But how can you speed up the transformation of society in a country as large as Russia? Those sounding the moral outcry are the ones who are trying to dictate their standards from the outside. Of course, that isn't the right way to go either. One cannot impose democracy from the other side of national borders, which is something we ourselves experienced during the communist era. The West's policies toward Eastern Europe, the Helsinki process - none of that really helped us.”

“Democracy is the current industry standard political system, but unfortunately it is ill-suited for a libertarian state.”

States Political Democracy Industry Standards Ill Currents Libertarian Political Systems

Author:Patri Friedman

“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.”

“I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity.”

America Nations Democracy Safe Diversity Standards Treasure Civility

Author:Edward Kennedy

“We have advanced far enough to say that democracy is a way of life. We have yet to realize that it is a way of personal life and one which provides a moral standard for personal conduct.”

Way Enough Realizing Moral Democracy Standards Personal Life

Book:The Political Writings

Source: The Political Writings

“In a democracy, regulation of the press and imposing standards on it must be voluntary.”

Democracy Standards Presses Regulation Imposing

Author:Shami Chakrabarti

“First of all, there's no separation of church and state in the Islamic world. They're one and the same. And so when President Bush or Senator Kerry or Prime Minister Blair says, "Look, adopt our secular democracy, look at how good we've done. We have a wonderful level of standard of living for our people," what many Muslims hear is, "Turn your back on God and follow what men say."”

“The United Nations is an uplifting experiment, dedicated to raising the standards of living in Africa , the consciences of democracies, and the price of prostitutes in New York”

Nations United Democracy New York Standards Conscience Experiments Uplifting Dedicated United Nations Standards Of Living

Author:Frank Dane

“I think that rather than talking about particular models, of which there could be a huge number, we should talk about basic principles of democracy. After all, even within the West, there is no single standard and single model.”

Thinking Should Numbers Talking Principles Democracy Particular Huge Models Standards West Basic Principles Huge Numbers

Author:Vladimir Putin

“The US two party system is very different, of course. Here the people decides about who should rule them, but it is not reasonable to claim that the people rules itself through the political institutions. In comparison, I find that the standard European system is better, also as a model for global democracy.”

People Should Two Different Political Courses Party Democracy Models Standards Claims Institutions Reasonable Comparison Political Institutions Two Party System

Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo