Democracy | Some revealing quotes

"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right... The United States has never developed an aristocracy really disinterested or an intelligentsia really intelligent. Its history is simply a record of vacillations between two gangs of frauds." H. L. Mencken

"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist." Hannah Arendt

"The threat to freedom in Germany does not come with violence and noise, but rather quietly. It comes with all sorts of justifications, often well-intentioned ones. For example, when it comes to civil rights. In times when we are all concerned about the threat of terrorism, when we all naturally have to do everything we can for our citizens so that they can live happy lives unharmed. In times like these, parties and politicians come along and say, 'Now is the time to once again gradually reduce civil rights, which always bother us a little anyway. Freedom always dies inch by inch, as Karl Herrman Flach once put it. And freedom does not die because of politicians, it does not die because politicians want to restrict civil rights and liberties, but rather it becomes dangerous for freedom when citizens forget their own immune system, which must arm them against any threat to freedom. And for me, that is the decisive self-image of our party. That we say: For us, the citizen comes first and then the state. Other parties trust the state first and only then trust the citizens. Under the pretext of creating security, every civil right can be called into question. Under the pretext that security requires it, every tightening of the law can be decided. We fight this wherever we can, in the federal government, in parliament, but ladies and gentlemen, we also need the citizens. We also need self-confident citizens who do not accept the statement: “If you have nothing to hide, you should not complain.” No, we want a nation of self-confident citizens, not subjects of the state." Guido Westerwelle

"If something is wrong for you or me, it is also wrong for the cop, the soldier, the mayor, the governor, the general, the Fed chairman, the president. Theft does not become acceptable when they call it taxation, counterfeiting when they call it monetary policy, kidnapping when they call it the draft, mass murder when they call it foreign policy. We understand that it is never acceptable to wield violence nor the threat of violence against the innocent, whether by the mugger or the politician." Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

"It isn't a coincidence that governments everywhere want to educate children. Government education, in turn, is supposed to be evidence of the state's goodness and its concern for our well-being. The real explanation is less flattering. If the government's propaganda can take root as children grow up, those kids will be no threat to the state apparatus. They'll fasten the chains to their own ankles." Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

"When I sometimes leaf through my company's press review in the morning, I get the feeling that the range of opinion used to be broader. There is an astonishing homogeneity in German editorial offices when it comes to weighing up and classifying information. The pressure to conform in the minds of journalists seems to me to be quite high." Frank-Walter Steinmeier

"The state of emergency will tend to be extended more and more. Dangerous situations will be artificially prolonged. States and governments will begin to get used to this power. They will start to like it. The surveillance states that are currently being established will outlast the coronavirus!" Edward Snowden

"The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves." Vladimir Lenin

"Freedom can never be completely safeguarded by rules and laws. It is as much dependent on the courage, integrity, and responsibility of each of us as it is on these qualities in those who govern. Every trait in us and our leaders which points to passive submission to mere power betrays democratic freedom. In our American system of democratic government, three different powerful branches serve to check each other, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. Yet when there is no will to prevent encroachment of the power of one by any of the others, this system of checks, too, can degenerate." Joost A.M. Meerloo

"I’m from Germany and I think history is repeating itself right now. Germany is becoming a police state. You are constantly asked for your papers. It’s just like in the Hitler era." Julia Dietze

"When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we in essence accept that the state owns our bodies." Ron Paul

"The biggest joke. The idea of installing Mr. Lauterbach as health minister is the biggest joke since Caligula appointed his horse as consul. The claim that he is an experienced doctor is completely unfounded, and the further claim that he is a trained epidemiologist is equally false. Mr. Lauterbach is not accepted by any serious scientist as an expert or anything of the sort. With 50 years of medical experience as a health policy maker for the CSU, I am certainly qualified to judge who could meet the minimum requirements here. God save us from Mr. Lauterbach." Prof. Wolfgang Pförringer

"Democracy is a political system that does not guarantee the rule of the people, but rather their exploitation." Hans-Hermann Hoppe

"It is outrageous how the Federal Constitutional Court judges are delaying the urgent motion, while the federal government even wants to extend the highly controversial ‘federal emergency brake’. The Karlsruhe court is thus acting as a political accomplice instead of fulfilling its supervisory duty. This creates the terrible impression of conformity." Florian Post