I think it’s important to vote.

The U.S. and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world.

The key is to vote because we need a vote to put the people in power that we want to represent us.

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.

Spaniards were condemned for appeasing terrorism by voting for withdrawing troops from Iraq in the absence of U.N. authorization – that is, for taking a stand rather like that of 70 percent of Americans, who called for the U.N. to take the leading role in Iraq.

You’ve got to vote, vote, vote, vote. That’s it; that’s the way we move forward. That’s how we make progress for ourselves and for our country.

The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy – the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities – which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.

The elections are run by the same industries that sell toothpaste on television.

Democracy is the road to socialism.

I always like to take my time and examine the two candidates, see not only the two candidates but the policies they will bring in, the people they will bring in, who they might appoint to the Supreme Court, and look at the whole range of issues before making a decision.

Concentration of executive power, unless it’s very temporary and for specific circumstances, let’s say fighting world war two, it’s an assault on democracy.

Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

Nowadays, politically, everybody is promising everything. That’s the only way you can get elected.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.

Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who’ll get the blame.

Democracy is not static. It is a living force. Every new idea, every new invention offers opportunity for both good and evil.

I ran for the Senate six times. And one of the things I know about Senate races off years and on races, and on years, the same as governor’s races, is it’s all local. It all gets down to what the specific issues in that – in that district or that state is.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

If you know how to read, you have a complete education about life, then you know how to vote within a democracy. But if you don’t know how to read, you don’t know how to decide. That’s the great thing about our country – we’re a democracy of readers, and we should keep it that way.

I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth.

Women fight for democracy and engage in the world. But they shouldn’t try and be copying men and be masculine; they should anchor on the home and build on those fundamentals.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

What I worry about would be that you essentially have two chambers, the House and the Senate, but you have simply, majoritarian, absolute power on either side. And that’s just not what the founders intended.

Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life.

You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.

Democracy is our commitment. It is our great legacy, a legacy we simply cannot compromise. Democracy is in our DNA.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

If everybody that voted in 2008 shows up in 2010, we will win this election. We will win this election.

Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

There is too much government today. We’ve got to remember the government should be by the people, of the people, and for the people.

The very design of neoliberal principles is a direct attack on democracy.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I never will.

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America. That’s why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

We will not be intimidated or pushed off the world stage by people who do not like what we stand for, and that is, freedom, democracy and the fight against disease, poverty and terrorism.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

Because of my parents‘ love of democracy, we came to America after being driven twice from our home in Czechoslovakia – first by Hitler and then by Stalin.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.

Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant.

Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

I grew up in San Francisco. And so I’m informed in a certain kind of way about, you know, believing in democracy and believing in America. And I’m a very ardent patriot.

Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.

Democracy passes into despotism.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

Up until the First World War, when people turned anti-German, Germany had been described by American political scientists as the model of democracy.

In a democracy, in a functioning democracy, what would be happening is that popular organizations, unions, political groupings, others would be developing their programs, putting them forth, insisting that their representatives implement those programs.

The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

Self-government can succeed only through an instructed electorate.

For any young democracy, the most difficult but important step is burying the legacy of tyranny and establishing an economy and a government and institutions that abide by the rule of law. Every country faces challenges to the rule of law, including my own.

The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood – rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky – they all turn out in one day.

I’m glad I can’t vote.