Political disagreements have the colour and fragrance that normally is seen and felt in a political bouquet, while remaining united on one issue that democracy is the future of Pakistan.
The idea of democracy has been stripped of it moral imperatives and come to denote hollowness and hypocrisy.
From partisan gerrymandering and unlimited corporate money flooding our elections to voter suppression legislation, the Republican Party, aligned with Trump, has waged a war on our democracy.
The advanced levels which the democratic world has attained at the end of lengthy processes may have created the perception in the region that democracy is a distant concept; this perception can be addressed.
I’m not overly alarmist about it, but I do think there are some worrying signs, like the growing accumulation of wealth by a very small proportion of the population, plus elections in the US are much more dominated by money than anywhere else calling itself a democracy.
Half a world away nations that once lived under oppression and tyranny are now budding democracies due in large part to America ‘s leadership and the sacrifices of our military.
Our democracy, our constitutional framework is really a kind of software for harnessing the creativity and political imagination for all of our people. The American democratic system was an early political version of Napster.
Our leaders pay lip service to the freedoms that democracy provides while actually supporting an economic structure that imprisons its citizens under more and more debt.
America is a symbol of freedom – it’s a symbol of democracy – and if that is threatened, we have to take this platform and use it to be a voice for the voiceless.
Democracy rests upon two pillars: one, the principle that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the other, the conviction that such equal opportunity will most advance civilization.
Television is democracy at its ugliest.
The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.
Network technology has irrevocably changed campaigning and elections. It has the potential to transform governance and the workings of our democracy for the better.
There can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it.
America’s corporate and political elites now form a regime of their own and they’re privatizing democracy. All the benefits – the tax cuts, policies and rewards flow in one direction: up.
A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful.
Therefore, the question is not whether such democratization is possible, but instead how to meet the yearning of the masses in the Middle East for democracy; in other words, how to achieve democratization in the Middle East.
The good news, to relieve all this gloom, is that a democracy is inherently self-correcting. Here, the people are sovereign. Inept political leaders can be replaced. Foolish policies can be changed. Disastrous mistakes can be reversed.
The American system of democracy is founded on the concept that every citizen has the right to vote, to know that their vote is counted, and that the vote is counted accurately.
We need to intentionally invest in health, in home ownership, in entrepreneurship, in access to democracy, in economic empowerment. If we don’t do these things, we shouldn’t be surprised that racial inequality persists because inequalities compound.
If we put our trust in the common sense of common men and ‘with malice toward none and charity for all’ go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail.
If someone says, ‘Democracy is a sham, those people don’t speak for me… the system’s rigged,’ you say, ‘Vote.’ Someone says, ‘I was making a statement by not voting,’ and then you say, ‘Well I can’t hear it.’
I think the advantage of democracy is that it makes us less dependent on a group of leaders.
A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way.
When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
Between social reforms and revolution there exists for the social democracy an indissoluble tie. The struggle for reforms is its means; the social revolution, its aim.
I think the success of democracy is not really police security; it’s the presence of a broad middle class. The stronger the middle class of a people is, the less you have to worry about one group coming in and exploiting the democratic process for its own ends.
Whether people care enough about local news to pay for it is, sadly, an entirely different question than whether our democracy requires a strong watchdog function at the local level to ensure safeguards against abuse, chicanery, and outright dishonesty.
You can’t put democracy and freedom back into a box.
If you want to preserve – I’m very serious now – if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.
The Internet has done a wonderful thing for us. But democracy doesn’t work unless people are well informed, and I don’t know that we are. People just don’t have the time.
I hope you realize, in a democracy, laughter is assent.
Now, mark it. This may be strong language, but heed it. The people mean it, and, my friends of the Eastern Democracy, we bid farewell when you do that thing.
Democracy is about institutions: it’s about having things like schools and judiciary and the Ford Foundation, or ‘The Nation’ magazine – you need progressive institutions, you know what I mean? Those are important institutions to make sure that the government functions.
Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.
Too many people expect wonders from democracy, when the most wonderful thing of all is just having it.
Small use it will be to save democracy for the race if we cannot save the race for democracy.
Democracy cannot survive without the guidance of a creative minority.
Democracy needs support, and the best support for democracy comes from other democracies.
I am confident that in the end freedom and democracy will prevail over terror and tyranny. We will win this war on terror – and when we do Americans, the British, Iraqis, and people around the world will be more secure.
We can’t continue with this social democracy here in Brazil.
Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.
My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I’m killing somebody.
The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.
If we don’t have access to facts, we can’t trust each other. Without trust, there’s no law. Without law, there’s no democracy.
I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.
Most Americans do really think that Muslims all want to take over and they don’t want democracy and they want nothing but Islamic law.
Few businessmen are capable of being in politics, they don’t understand the democratic process, they have neither the tolerance or the depth it takes. Democracy isn’t a business.
Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in the 11th year you wake up and start practicing again. We have to begin to learn to rule ourselves again.
Democracy may not prove in the long run to be as efficient as other forms of government, but it has one saving grace: it allows us to know and say that it isn’t.
I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy.
The eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than an abolition of democracy and a guarantee that Arabs will continue living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes.
Democracy fascinates me.
Without Madeleine Albright, our community of democracies might be smaller.
Democracy is constructed like an edifice, freedom by freedom, right by right, until it reaches its snapping point.
Democracy is not about making speeches. It is about making committees work.
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.
Global markets must be balanced by global values such as respect for human rights and international law, democracy, security and sustainable economic and environmental development.
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
