Democracy Quotes – Reflections on Political Structures

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."

George Orwell

"My professional career has been one long decline—from musician to lawyer and then to politician."

Lothar de Maizière

"Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislative power, the executive, and the judiciary. And one would then like to ask: By what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? In the communist East a journalist is frankly appointed as a state official. But who has granted Western journalists their power, for how long a time, and with what prerogatives?"

Alexander Solschenizyn

""Freedom of the press is the freedom of two hundred rich people to spread their opinions. As the production of newspapers and magazines requires ever greater capital, the circle of people who publish press organs is becoming smaller and smaller. This makes our dependence ever greater and ever more dangerous. There are oases in the German press where the air of freedom still blows, but how many of my colleagues can say the same? Those who are rich are free. That's not from Karl Marx, but from Paul Sethe. Since journalists are not rich, they are not free either.""

Paul Sethe

"Freedom of the press in the West, which is much better than elsewhere, is ultimately the freedom of 200 rich people to publish their opinions."

Peter Scholl-Latour

"We all know by now how dangerously the media's normal watchdog function has been transformed into a ruthless destruction machine for the sake of maintaining its own economic success."

Edzard Reuter

"Yes. I have decided that I will no longer work for public broadcasters for the foreseeable future, which means, for example, that I will no longer shoot any episodes of ”Tatort." I recently had two requests for public broadcasting productions, both of which I turned down. Because I don't want anything to do with the way they handled their reporting during the coronavirus pandemic. The one-sidedness and obvious government loyalty of ARD and ZDF leave me speechless."

Tom Bohn

"If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny."

Elon Musk

"Young people are accused of using violence. But are we not in a perpetual state of violence? Because we were born and raised in prison, we no longer notice that we are stuck in a hole with our hands and feet chained and a gag in our mouths. What do you call a lawful state? A law that turns the vast majority of citizens into servile cattle in order to satisfy the unnatural needs of an insignificant and corrupt minority? And this law, supported by brute military force and the stupid cleverness of its agents, this law is eternal, brute force, contrary to justice and common sense, and I will fight against it with my mouth and my hands wherever I can."

Karl Georg Büchner

"It is uninteresting who plays the leader of a nation; what is much more important is how many fools play along with this game."

Matthias Lubos

"We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy."

Chris Hedges

"Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information and religions destroy spirituality."

Michael Ellner

"The few who could understand the system (checks, money, credits) will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."

Nathaniel Meyer Rothschild

""In a money-driven sham democracy, the financial system takes precedence over the law." This is state-legalized fraud. The consequences of this fraud are: exploitation of people and nature, quantitative growth pressure, national debt, privatization, progressive impoverishment of many people, concentration of wealth and power among the richest, corruption, crises, and wars. The mainstream media, corporations, and the ruling political puppets are all part of this fraudulent system."

Rico Albrecht

"Everything is changing. Today, people take comedians seriously and view politicians as figures of fun."

Will Rogers

"The system absorbs those who think they can utilize it. Nor can there be any question of finding a modus vivendi or achieving attenuations. It has been demonstrated how the liberal state becomes an authoritarian state. The course is set and no accommodation will be either lasting or sufficient. In face of this absolute power, only an absolutely negative position is viable. What we have in mind is the attitude that conscientous objectors take on a specific point, and not without good reason. In the present set-up the anarchist attitude of a total refusal of validity or legitimacy to any authority of any kind seems to me to be the only valid and viable one. The point is not to enforce a particular view of society but to establish a counterbalance, a protest, a sign of cleavage. In face of an absolute power only a total confrontation has any meaning."

Jacques Ellul

"The Government are extremely fond of amassing great quantities of statistics. These are raised to the nth degree, the cube roots are extracted, and the results are arranged into elaborate and impressive displays. What must be kept in mind, however, is that in every case, the figures are first put down by a village watchman, and he puts down anything he damn well pleases!"

Sir Josiah Stamp

"A people that is governed by a power must know the power by which it is governed. The people must direct and control that power. They must step in when it commits crimes; otherwise, the people become accomplices. The foundation of democracy is popular sovereignty, not the authority of a paternalistic state. It is not the citizen who stands in a relationship of obedience to the government; rather, the government is accountable to the citizen for its actions within the framework of the law. The citizen has the right and the duty to call the government to order if he believes that democratic rights are being violated."

Dr. Gustav Heinemann