Howard Rheingold Quotes

Democracy depends on well educated and engaged citizens.

As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself - and not just by voting.

We are not the consumers of democracy, we are its proprietors.

You damned fools. You can either vote for me for mayor or you can go to hell

Voting is how we participate in a civic society - be it for president, be it for a municipal election. It's the way we teach our children - in school elections - how to be citizens, and the importance of their voice.

A democracy is predicated on an educated citizenry. You cannot have a democracy with people that are more interested in what Nicole Kidman is doing or whoever the latest fashion model is.

But, Jefferson worried that the people - and the argument goes back to Thucydides and Aristotle - are easily misled. He also stressed, passionately and repeatedly, that it was essential for the people to understand the risks and benefits of government, to educate themselves, and to involve themselves in the political process. Without that, he said, the wolves will take over.

The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.

Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

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

You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history.

We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.

The American public should simply accept no distractions. In our democracy, it is our duty to hold our elected leaders accountable. We do it at the ballot box.

And they understand that to be an effective member of a democracy, you have to accept responsibility.

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

We, as citizens, are the true owners of government.

Democracy is something that you must learn each generation. It has to be taught.

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.

The whole thing about elections in Liberia - it's not about the way you take care of people, it's not about the heart, it's about education, according to the perception of some people.

Although elections are not perfect tools for democracy, they reinforce the relationship between the people and their leaders, empowering citizens to remove and replace their governments in a peaceful and orderly manner. The only basis for a peaceful society is providing people with the opportunity to express their opinions and their will, and elections are instrumental in doing so.

The effective functioning of our constitutional democracy depends upon the participation in public life of a citizenry that is well informed

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.

Voting is the first duty 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.