“Having a vote once every four years is not the same thing as democracy.”
Hugh Laurie book The Gun Seller
Source: The Gun Seller
As quoted in a speech on 8 June 2022, "'Couldn't Spell Democracy:' Irish Politician's Rant on America Resurfaces" in Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/couldnt-spell-democracy-irish-politicians-rant-america-resurfaces-viral-reddit-1722739
“Having a vote once every four years is not the same thing as democracy.”
Hugh Laurie book The Gun Seller
Source: The Gun Seller
Mohammad Emami-Kashani (1937) Iranian politician
Friday Sermon at Tehran University: America Will Collapse http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/186.htm July 2004. <br class="br">America to collapse
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2010s, 2011, Speech at the Gerald R. Ford Foundation (2011)
Context: My argument is that it really matters, if you're interested in peace. If peace is your goal, which it's got to be a goal for any American president, it matters a lot whether people live in a free society.
Manuel Castells (1942) Spanish sociologist (b.1942)
Source: The Internet Galaxy - Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society (2001), Conclusion, The Challenges of the Network Society, p. 282
Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) American photographer
Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries, Sarah Greenough, Washington: National Gallery of Art. 2000, pp. 26–53; as quoted on Wikipedia
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2016, Remarks to the People of Cuba (March 2016)
Context: There’s still enormous problems in our society. But democracy is the way that we solve them. That's how we got health care for more of our people. That's how we made enormous gains in women’s rights and gay rights. That's how we address the inequality that concentrates so much wealth at the top of our society. Because workers can organize and ordinary people have a voice, American democracy has given our people the opportunity to pursue their dreams and enjoy a high standard of living.