This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
National leaders who find themselves wilting under the withering criticisms by members of the media, would do well not to take such criticism personally but to regard the media as their allies in keeping the government clean and honest, its services efficient and timely, and its commitment to democracy strong and unwavering.
Commitment | Criticism | Democracy | Government | Regard | Government |
Al Gore, Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.,
What makes the United States special in the history of nations is our commitment to the rule of law and our carefully constructed system of checks and balances. Our national distrust of concentrated power and our devotion to openness and democracy are what have led us as a people to consistently choose good over evil in our collective aspirations.
Commitment | Democracy | Devotion | Distrust | Evil | Good | History | Law | Nations | Openness | People | Power | Rule | System |
Americans often pride themselves on being members of the largest, most enduring, and most successful democracy in the world. Yet their lives, to a great degree, are channeled, shaped, and determined by the decisions of a very few people sitting in the board rooms and executive suites of the giant corporations, over whom they exercise little control.
The task of democracy is to relive mass misery and yet preserve the freedom of the individual.
Democracy | Freedom | Individual |
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger
The first rule of democracy is to distrust all leaders who begin to believe their own publicity.
Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
A fanatical belief in democracy makes democratic institutions impossible.
Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote?
David Ben-Gurion, born David Grün
The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
Dwight Eisenhower, fully Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower
Human dignity, economic freedom, individual responsibility, these are the characteristics that distinguish democracy from all other forms devised by man.
Democracy | Dignity | Distinguish | Freedom | Individual | Man | Responsibility |
Franklin D. Roosevelt, fully Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aka FDR
Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.
Conscience | Democracy | Education | Freedom of conscience | Freedom | Speech |
Franklin D. Roosevelt, fully Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aka FDR
Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.
Democracy | Government | Power | Government |
Who are the really disloyal? Those who inflame racial hatreds, who sow religious and class dissensions. those who subvert the Constitution by violating the freedom of the ballot box. Those who make a mockery of majority rule by the use of the filibuster. Those who impair democracy by denying equal educational facilities. Those who frustrate justice by lynch law or by making a farce of jury trials. Those who deny freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly. Those who demand special favors against the interest of the commonwealth. Those who regard public office as a source of private gain. Those who exalt the military over the civil. Those who for selfish and private purposes stir up national antagonisms and expose the world to the ruin of war.
Democracy | Freedom of speech | Freedom | Justice | Law | Majority | Mockery | Office | Public | Regard | Rule | Speech | Trials | War | World |
If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent.
Criticism | Democracy | Dissent | Government | Government |
Democracy is not just a counting up of votes – it is a counting up of actions. Without those on the bottom acting out there desires for justice – as the government acts out its needs, and those with power and privilege act out theirs – the scales of democracy will be off. That is why civil disobedience is not just to be tolerated – if we are to have a truly democratic society it is a necessity.
Civil disobedience | Democracy | Disobedience | Government | Justice | Necessity | Power | Society | Will | Society | Government | Privilege |
Today we all realize that democracy is not a self-perpetuating virus adapted to any body politic - that was the assumption of a previous generation. Democracy as we know to be a special type of organism requiring specific nutriment materials - some economic, some social and cultural.
Louis D. Brandeis, fully Louis Dembitz Brandeis
We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.