Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2005-05-16 May 16, 2005Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.~ James MadisonOutside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it.~ Benjamin FranklinFor in a Republic, who is "the country?" Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.~ Mark Twain May 13, 2005A man is none the less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.~ Lysander SpoonerConfronted with such a tight regulation, can man pretend to be free because the tyranny he is subjected to derives from the law? Of course, the legal power is not called "tyranny" since it appears to be established by the general will in the common interest, and since, in any event, occurrences of arbitrary power are infrequent. But a master's equity does not mean that his subjects are not slaves. ... And when their servitude lasts and their thoughts follow their behavior, the state becomes totalitarian and subjection is complete. Since it is legal servitude, the regime is still said to be democratic. Such is the hypocrisy of political language.~ Georges RipertThey defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance.~ Edmund Burke May 12, 2005Unless they can pass the same test that immigrants must pass to become citizens, people shouldn't be allowed to vote. The idea that there is some public benefit in ignoramuses and morons pulling levers next to names on a ballot is one of the evil myths of post-modern America. The purpose of voting, in our country, is to select men and women with the competence and integrity to operate the mechanics of government fixed by our Constitution. For this process to have any public benefit requires that the choices be made on an intelligent, knowledgeable and reasoned basis.~ Charley ReeseIt is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.~ Lord ActonThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.~ Sir Winston Churchill May 11, 2005Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.~ John Kenneth GalbraithViolent resistance against the power of the state is the last resort of the minority in its effort to break loose from the oppression of the majority. ... The citizen must not be so narrowly circumscribed in his activities that, if he thinks differently from those in power, his only choice is either to perish or to destroy the machinery of state.~ Ludwig von MisesI'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.~ Alexander Woollcott May 10, 2005Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. 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.~ Alexis de TocquevilleDemocracy, then, in the centralizing, pattern-making, absolutist shape which we have given to it is, it is clear, the time of tyranny's incubation.~ Bertrand de JouvenelWherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents.~ James Madison Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print