Monday 16 May 2005

Democracy is . . .

Democracy is the counting of heads regardless of content.       - Bill Weddell 


Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.
 - P.J. O'Rourke 



Democracy, too, is a religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses. - H.L. Mencken

Social Security is a government program with a constituency made up of the old, the near old and those who hope or fear to grow old. After 215 years of trying, we have finally discovered a special interest that includes 100 percent of the population. Now we can vote ourselves rich.             - P.J O'Rourke


Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting for dinner. - Robert Heinlein Elections are an advance auction of stolen goods.
 - H.L Mencken 



A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.
 -
attrib. to Alexander Tytler 


As they say in exams, Discuss.

3 comments:

Berend de Boer said...

This theory will be first put to the test in Europe, when the wellfare state will collapse the next 15 years. Let's see.

Anonymous said...

What was it some war leader said? It's the best there is but for all the others?

Got a better idea? Ah, but you do- a constitution.

But you can't trust freedom if it's not in your hand, and only democracy gives that. All nations have the government they deserve, especially democracies. A constitution is no substitute for what's in the heart of the people. If the people want to crash and burn a constitution won't save them, only help fool them into thinking their vigilence can be and is not required.

Democracy is a medium, and a medium doesn't speak it only changes input to output. The value of any medium is how well output resembles input and at this democracy excells above all others.

Don't blame the medium, blame the input. Rubbish in, rubbish out.

Anonymous said...

Nowadays, democracy is just a fancy word the big countries used to pressure smaller countries (and start wars).

Democracy is legal porn, lots of gay population, and filthy rich people. You just have to have them, otherwise the country is not good and deserves a couple decades of economic sanction and may be some military assaults.

Seems like we have lost its true meaning.