“If you give up on politics, you're giving up on democracy. And if you give up on democracy, you're basically saying to the moneyed interests, the powerful people and institutions of society, take it all. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then we give up. Then we are 100 percent plutocracy.” PeopleIfsGivingSelfInterestPowerfulDemocracyGiving UpPercentInstitutionsFulfillingProphecySelf Fulfilling ProphecyPlutocracy Author:Robert Reich
“The trouble with democracy is that 50 percent of the voters are below average.” DemocracyTroublePercentAverageVoters Author:Jeff Cooper
“The polls demonstrate that 50 percent of Americans who get their news from TV think Saddam Hussein was behind the Twin Towers attack. Man, have they got ways for getting half-truths out right away now, thanks to TV! I think TV is a calamity in a democracy.” ThinkingMenWayBehindsHalfDemocracyTvsNewsPercentThanksTwinsTowersSaddamHusseinPollsCalamityHalf TruthTwin Towers Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“It's the same with this idea of a literate public, and also of a democracy in which people have access to and really read the best books. It turns out that even when you create this kind of environment, maybe only 10 percent of the people want to read those books.” PeopleWantKindBookIdeasTurnsDemocracyEnvironmentPercentAccess Author:Robert Hass
“In the United States, if 43 percent of eligible voters do not vote, then democracy is weakened.” IfsStatesUnitedUnited StatesDemocracyPercentVoteVoters Author:Barack Obama
“All of those on the left, as I am, have always vastly preferred the democratic society over the hierarchical society and still do, but the democratic culture doesn't exist without highly informed citizens capable of thinking well, and if you have schools in which 40 percent of the people coming out of them cannot make change for a dollar, you don't have a democracy. You have a sibling society.” PeopleIfsThinkingWellsStillsSchoolCultureLeftDemocracyCitizensCapablePercentDollarsDemocraticComing OutSiblingDemocratic SocietyInformed Citizens Author:Robert Bly