Democracy | Some revealing quotes

"The typical democrat is quite willing to exchange any of the theoretical boons of freedom for something that he can use." H. L. Mencken

"The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations." Thomas Jefferson

"Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%." Thomas Jefferson

"Anarchy, the absence of a master, of a sovereign." Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

"Voting, we might even say, is the next to last refuge of the politically impotent. The last refuge is, of course, giving your opinion to a pollster, who will get a version of it through a desiccated question, and then will submerge it in a Niagara of similar opinions, and convert them into--what else?--another piece of news. Thus we have here a great loop of impotence: The news elicits from you a variety of opinions about which you can do nothing except to offer them as more news, about which you can do nothing." Neil Postman

"Human beings act in a great variety of irrational ways, but all of them seem to be capable, if given a fair chance, of making a reasonable choice in the light of available evidence. Democratic institutions can be made to work only if all concerned do their best to impart knowledge and to encourage rationality. But today, in the world's most powerful democracy, the politicians and the propagandists prefer to make nonsense of democratic procedures by appealing almost exclusively to the ignorance and irrationality of the electors." Aldous Huxley

"Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses." H. L. Mencken

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." Henry Louis Mencken

"Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage." Henry Louis Mencken

"In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs." Walter Lippmann

"What we call a democratic society might be defined for certain purposes as one in which the majority is always prepared to put down a revolutionary minority." Walter Lippmann

"The first principle of a civilized state is that the power is legitimate only when it is under contract." Walter Lippmann

"No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people." Walter Lippmann

"Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven." H. L. Mencken