Best Democratic Ideals Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“It is up to all of us to fix this. It’s not gonna be because somebody comes and saves ya. You know, the most important office in this democracy is the citizen, the ordinary person, who says “nah, that’s not right.” And I do think one of the reasons that our commitment to democratic ideals has eroded is that we got pretty comfortable and complacent. It has been easy during most of our lifetimes to say you are progressive, or say you are for social justice, or say you're for free speech, and not have to pay a price for it. And now we're at one of those moments where you know what, it's not enough just to say you’re for something, you may actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a little bit. So yeah, if you're a law firm being threatened, you might have to say, OK, we will lose some business because we’re gonna stand for a principle. If you are a university, you may have to say, figure out, are we in fact doing things right? Have we in fact violated our own values, our own code, violated the law in some fashion? If not, and you're just being intimidated, well, you should be able to say, well, that's why we got this big endowment. We'll stand up for what we believe in and then we'll pay our researchers for a while out of that endowment and we'll give up the extra wing, or the fancy gymnasium, we can delay that for a couple years because, you know, academic freedom might be a little more important. For most of human history and to this day in most places in the world, there is a cost to challenging the powers that be, particularly if they're abusing that power. And I’ve noticed this among some wealthier folks who, you know, after George Floyd, they were right there and a bunch of companies were talking about how they cared about diversity and they wanted to do this and they were all for that and they are mute right now. But what that tells me is it was OK when it was cool and trendy, and when it’s not, eh, not so much. And that, I think, is what we have to… each of us has to examine in our own hearts, is, alright, we say we're for equality, are we willing to fight for it, are we gonna risk something for it. We say that we’re for rule of law--are we going to stick to that when it’s tough, not when it’s easy. We believe in freedom of speech. Do we stand up for freedom of speech when the other person talking is saying stuff that infuriates us and is wrong and hurtful. Do we still believe in it?”

Principles Democracy Risk Diversity Social Justice Equity Complacency Standing Up Democratic Ideals

Author:Barack Obama

“The ideal may seem remote of execution, but the democratic ideal of education is a farcical yet tragic delusion except as the ideal more and more dominates our public system of education.”

May Seems Ideals Democratic Tragic Delusion Execution Democratic Ideals

Book:Democracy and Education: Top American Authors

Source: Democracy and Education: Top American Authors

“The democratic ideal springs from the ideas of liberty, equality, majority rule through free elections, protection of the rights of minorities, and freedom to subscribe to multiple loyalties in matters of religion, economics, and politics rather than to a total loyalty to the state. The spirit of democracy is the idea of importance and worth in the individual, and faith in the kind of world where the individual can achieve as much of his potential as possible.”

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals

“Once we recognize the power of propaganda, we need to ask whether its exercise is consistent with those democratic ideals to which lip-service is commonly accorded.”

Needs Asks Exercise Ideals Democratic Lips Propaganda Consistent Lip Service Democratic Ideals

Book:Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion

Source: Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion

“Perhaps our national ambition to standardize ourselves has behind it the notion that democracy means standardization. But standardization is the surest way to destroy the initiative, to denumb the creative impulse above all else essential to the vitality and growth of democratic ideals.”

Way Mean Growth Behinds Creative Democracy Essentials Ambition Ideals Democratic Notion Impulse Initiative Vitality Standardization Democratic Ideals

Author:Ida Tarbell

“It sometimes seems as though we were trying to combine the ideal of no schools at all with the democratic ideal of schools for everybody by having schools without education.”

Trying Sometimes Seems School Education Ideals Democratic Democratic Ideals

Author:Robert M. Hutchins

“Even when you cherish democratic ideals, it is never easy to turn them into effective democratic institutions. This process will take decades.”

Turns Easy Process Democracy Ideals Institutions Democratic Decades Cherish Democratic Ideals

Author:Condoleezza Rice

“I've written a book entitled 'Islam: the Challenges of Democracy,' because it is a challenge. It requires careful interpretation of the Islamic tradition and Islamic theology, and there's a lot in there that would support democratic ideals.”

Book Challenges Support Democracy Written Ideals Tradition Democratic Islam Careful Theology Islamic Interpretation Entitled Democratic Ideals

Author:Khaled Abou El Fadl

“In other words, all these things you might cling to, Catholicism, democratic ideals, Hasidism, Marxism, Freudianism, all of these things are exposed [through use of psychedelics] as simply quaint cultural artifacts, painted masks and rattles assembled by people of good intent but clearly not great grasp of the situation.”

People Use Might Situation Ideals Democratic Mask Catholicism Exposed Marxism Artifacts Quaint Democratic Ideals

Author:Terence McKenna

“Cooperation called fraternity in the classic French formula is as much a part of the democratic ideal as is personal initiative. That cultural conditions were allowed to develop (markedly so in the economic phase) which subordinated cooperativeness to liberty and equality serves to explain the decline in the two latter.”

Two Liberty Economic Conditions Ideals Democratic Classic Latter Formulas Cooperation Decline Initiative Phases Fraternity Liberty And Equality Democratic Ideals

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

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

“The unhealthy gap between what we preach in America and what we often practice creates a moral dry rot that eats at the very foundation of our democratic ideals and values.”

America Values Moral Practice Ideals Foundation Democratic Dry Gaps Unhealthy Democratic Ideals

Book:To be equal

Source: To be equal

“The democratic ideal has always been related to a moderate level of inequality. I think one big reason why electoral democracy flourished in 19th century America better than 19th century Europe is because you had more equal distribution of wealth in America.”

“Our modern democratic ideal is based on the hope that inequalities will be based on merit more than inheritance or luck.”

Modern Ideals Luck Democratic Inequality Merit Inheritance Democratic Ideals

Author:Thomas Piketty

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

“Yale is a crucible in American life for the accommodation of intellectual achievement, of wisdom, of refinement, with the democratic ideals of openness, of social justice and of equal opportunity.”

Opportunity Social Justice Equal Achievement Intellectual Ideals Social Justice Democratic Openness Refinement American Life Yale Equal Opportunity Accommodations Crucible Democratic Ideals

Author:Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.

“The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal.”

Life Is Courses Literature Nations Social Moral Achievement Ideals Democratic Definitions Aspiration Adequate American Life Swagger Swag Democratic Ideals

Book:The Promise of American Life

Source: The Promise of American Life

“Bosses are no more inevitable in state and local governments than dictators are in national governments. They will arise and prosper, nevertheless, if true believers of democracy - citizens devoted to the democratic ideals - do not constantly oppose them.”

Ifs States Government Democracy Citizens Ideals Democratic Believer Arise Locals Inevitable Boss Devoted Dictator Nevertheless True Believer Local Government Democratic Ideals

Author:Charles Edison