Peter Fenn Quotes

The merit of a democratic regime rests on one's continual willingness to exchange views, and to compete on the basis of individual merit and capacities.

Free and open communications is the best guarantee of democracy.

A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy.

The Senate floor is and always has been the great arena of our democracy. I spent eight years in my younger life as a boxer, and sometimes when I enter the chamber, I think, 'This is the ring. The American people can see us here and listen to our arguments. This is where the fights matter.'

My dream of politics all my life has been that it is the common business, that it is something we owe to each other to understand and discuss with absolute frankness.

If you can exchange information freely, isn’t that almost a definition of democracy.

Democracy is not elections. Democracy includes elections.

The greatest way to defend democracy is to make it work.

I believe that democracy is about values before it is about voting. These values must be nurtured within society and integrated into the electoral process itself.

Athletes have the same rights everybody else does. If there is a strength in our democracy, it's that we are encouraged to exercise those rights and speak out and hold people in power in check.

American democracy is greater with free speech and open dialogue.

If I were to say anything to people I may say people should vote for those who are respectful to democracy, rule of law, who get on well with people.

Democracy is not just constitutional and legislative rules; it is a culture and practice and adhering by the law and respecting international human rights principles.

Our democracy is predicated on the belief that our government should be accessible by the people. We cannot allow ourselves to give in to fear or shy away from interacting with the public.

The Greens have every right to run, that's what democracy is, and they should argue their point by saying how they think people should vote, not by telling us to be silent.

Democracy makes us articulate our views, defend them, and refine them.

Democracy is not simply a question of structures. It is a state of mind. It is an activity. And part of that activity is honesty.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

We are in a democratic society. It's our job to question.

A mature society understands that at the heart of democracy is argument.

I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.

In a democracy, the one thing that cannot be done is to destroy its trust, its hope, its idealism.

One could always do more, faster and cleverer, but democracy has its own rhythm.

Democracy has always been in crisis: democracy is all about practicing the art of bearable dissatisfaction. In democratic societies, people often complain about their leaders and their institutions. The gap between the ideal democracy and the existing one cannot be bridged.

Democracy is not about making speeches. It is about making committees work.