Democracy Limitations Quotes

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury

All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in the government.

Our democratic culture does not prioritise protecting an individual's right to live life her way, especially if that is not our way or the way of the community.

In brief, Western democracy, as other political models, is not exportable to all regions of the world.

Democracy is, by the nature of it, a self-canceling business: and gives in the long run a net result of zero.

There are two things that will always be difficult for a democratic people to do: to start a war and to finish it

Democracy holds little appeal for people who are struggling to survive.

So when the wolf pounces on your lamb, just ignore the pitiful bleating and remind yourself that this is a democracy, where every sheep can freely express its preference for which kind of wolf it wants to be eaten by. Many sheep, perhaps understandably, prefer a wolf in sheep's clothing, which is after all the basic idea of democracy. So far it has worked pretty well. The wolves all agree on that, and they want to spread democracy everywhere.

Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is - so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.

A democracy cannot of course engage in an explicit preventive war. I lament the inability to comprehend the depth of evil to which individuals and communities may sink, particularly when they try to play the role of God to history.

If you expect democratic government will be efficient government, you will be disappointed.

Now if democracy will not work for the Russians, a white Christian people, can we assume that it will naturally work with Asians?

The exuberance of democracy leads to undisciplined and disorderly conditions which are inimical to development.

When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses.

If believers feel that their faith is trivialized and their true selves compromised by a society that will not give religious imperatives special weight, their problem is not that secularists are antidemocratic but that democracy is antiabsolutist.

Democracy is a form of government --- it's not a ticket to some fantasy land where all evil is vanquished and everyone agrees with us

To try to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy is absolutely crazy. Islam has no understanding of the separation between church and state because they don't understand Islam to be a church.

As in Athens, the right to participate was restricted to men, just as it was also in all later democracies and republics until the twentieth century.

Democracy means doing whatever you want without asking permission of anybody but your boss, your doctor, your lawyer, your landlord, your bank, your city, your state and federal authorities, and your wife and children.

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.

In a democracy such as ours the leading minds seldom achieve a place of permanent influence. And the men who sit in Congress or even in the White House are usually not our leading minds. They are not the thinkers. Still less have they time for reflection.

Oh, yes--you can shout me down, I know! But you cannot answer me. The majority has might on its side--unfortunately; but right it has not.

Democracy is a very admirable form of government - for dogs

The essential objection to democracy is that, with few exceptions, it imposes degrading acts and attitudes upon the men responsible for the welfare and dignity of the state.

Democracy sounds good but it doesn’t always bring results …. I don’t think I would invest as much money as I am in developing a city in a democracy.