Joshua Oppenheimer Quotes

Maintain democracy or go to dictatorship: that is what is at stake in these elections.

The vision that the founding fathers had of rule of law and equality before the law and no one above the law, that is a very viable vision, but instead of that, we have quasi mob rule.

Elections are an enduring spectacle of free India, and have provided foreign journalists with the opportunity to remind the world that India remains the world's largest democracy.

I have to think of my status as a resident in this country. But I do insist that in Paraguay there was order; the judiciary had the power of complete independence; justice was fully exercised.

In my day, the president ruled with authority before the law, but now all that is lost.

Well, one of the first things is to restore the rule of law, to place the government back under the cage of law. Another thing is to stop falling for the myth of democracy.

President Ronald Reagan used to speak of the Soviet constitution, and he noted that it purported to grant wonderful rights of all sorts to people. But those rights were empty promises, because that system did not have an independent judiciary to uphold the rule of law and enforce those rights.

The right to dissent is the only thing that makes life tolerable for a judge of an appellate court... the affairs of government could not be conducted by democratic standards without it.

We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people.

Pakistan is a democracy. We cannot do anything against human rights.

The highest test of a people's fitness for free institutions is their willingness to obey law.

The Supreme Court has acted as the final barricade against the assaults of democratic majorities.

Most men, being the ruled, not the rulers, want good government. If, without constraint, they choose bad government, it is by mistake

If you have an election no mater how free, if you do not have a government that respects people’s rights, you don’t have a democracy.

Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.

Our democracy will survive the hostility of Vladimir Putin. What it may not survive is distrust of our system of justice.

The rule of law, and the idea that it applies to everyone regardless of what office that person might hold, is the chief ingredient in our democracy.

I'm passionate about parliament democracy.

There is no, and cannot be, any situation in which we don't respect the law and the judiciary. It is unacceptable to attack the courts; criticism is allowed, but attacks are not. It shakes the basis of our democracy.

I don't think we should be undermining our democracy.

Indonesia can hold regular elections, but if the laws do not apply to the most powerful elements in society, then there is no rule of law and no genuine democracy. The country will never become a true democracy until it takes serious steps to end impunity.

We want to strengthen democracy.

When we tolerate violations to the Constitution, the entire moral foundation of our political system is shaken to its core.

We need choices of government, just like we have choices of tables or chairs or cell phones or coffee.

India has remained a full, functioning democracy.