Christopher Lasch Quotes

It is citizen participation that nourishes the strength of a democracy.

No government demands so much from the citizens as democracy and none gives back so much.

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election.

I believe that everyone should participate in democracy and enjoy doing it.

Government is at its worst when you have apathy from its citizens.

The value of government to the people it serves is in direct relationship to the interest citizens themselves display in the affairs of state.

As I said, I spent most of my adult life thinking I didn't have a vote, and therefore that what I thought didn't matter.

The whole idea of a democracy is that we ourselves, the people, are supposed to make a path of our politics, and it is we who with our feet and our vote and our labors and our vigilance are supposed to shape our country.

Public participation in the process of government is the essence of democracy.

Among the foremost benefits of free government is that education of the intelligence and of the sentiments which is carried down to the very lowest ranks of the people when they are called to take a part in acts which directly affect the great interests of their country.

Democracy, of course, requires strong demands from the public.

Our democracy... is only as good as the American people demand it should be.

If everybody just stops caring about politics, we're going to lose the reins on our government.

We need to restore our democracy to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it. They are more or less unfit for liberty; and although it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it

Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.

Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

Democracy must learn to defend itself.

We should never take democracy for granted. Democracy can emerge and develop, but it can also decay.

Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in the 11th year you wake up and start practicing again. We have to begin to learn to rule ourselves again.

I want people to learn what democracy means.

I can't talk about foreign policy like anyone who's spent their life reading and learning foreign policy. But as a citizen in a democracy, it's very important that I participate in that.

There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.

The democratic process is only as great as the people who participate in it.

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.