"Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man."
—Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
“Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless.
In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine participatory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.”
― Noam Chomsky
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
― H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”
― H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
― Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965)
"This must be a world of democracy and respect for human rights, a world freed from the horrors of poverty, hunger, deprivation and ignorance, relieved of the threat and the scourge of civil wars and external aggression and unburdened of the great tragedy of millions forced to become refugees."
—Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)
“in a democratic society, a wrongful practice persists only when most people don’t perceive it to be unjust.”
― Peter Thiel
"democracy needs to be reborn in each generation, and education is its midwife"
—John Dewey (1859-1952)
“Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.”
—Lord Acton (1834-1902)