“The Paris Commune was first and foremost a democracy. The government was a body elected by universal suffrage.” FirstsBodyGovernmentDemocracyUniversalParisSuffrageCommunesUniversal Suffrage Author:C. L. R. James
“I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding females.” MeanGovernmentPayArmsBearsTaxesFemalePrivilegeBurdenAdmittingSuffrage Book:The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition) Source: The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)
“All governments use force and all assert that they are founded on reason. In fact, whether universal suffrage prevails or not, it is always an oligarchy that governs, finding ways to give to'the will of the people'the expression which the few desire.” PeopleWayGivingReasonFactsUseGovernmentDesireForceExpressionFindingsUniversalSuffrageOligarchyUniversal Suffrage Author:Vilfredo Pareto
“Meiklejohn's position is that free speech in a democracy is not an absolute flowing from the boundless source of some presumed 'natural right.' It is a practical necessity of 'self-government by universal suffrage,' for if the citizens are not permitted to argue out the issues of government, how can they be what they must be in a democracy - the rulers as well as the ruled?” IfsWellsSelfGovernmentNaturalDemocracyIssuesAtheismPositionSourceCitizensSpeechUniversalAbsolutesArguingPracticalsRulersFree SpeechBoundlessSuffrageSelf-governmentUniversal Suffrage Author:Max Lerner
“it was the United States which first established general suffrage for men upon the two principles that 'taxation without representation is tyranny' and that governments to be just should 'derive their consent from the governed.' The unanswerable logic of these two principles is responsible for the extension of suffrage to men and women the world over. In the United States, however, women are still taxed without 'representation' and still live under a government to which they have given no 'consent.” MenWorldShouldFirstsStillsTwoStatesGovernmentGivenJusticeUnitedPrinciplesUnited StatesMen And WomenLogicResponsibleTyrannyRepresentationConsentExtensionsTaxationSuffrageTaxation Without Representation Author:Carrie Chapman Catt