David Frum Quotes

I'm a citizen in a democracy. To call me an activist would be redundant. It's not a spectator sport. If we all become non-participants, it no longer works.

Democracy functions best when we have an active citizenry.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Our constitutional democracy demands our participation, not just every four years, but all the time.

Even though I grew up and I didn't always like getting dragged to the meetings or the rallies or the speeches, I developed a very strong respect for participating in a democratic process.

Any individual can contribute its own belief. And our society or even our government are made by the people. The people would have the final voice, but it requires each individual to act. If we don't act, then the result is very clear. So for too long Americans take liberty as granted. We think we are in the safe hand, the democracy and the liberty, which is not true. And it can be even getting much worse than today.

Our constitutional democracy demands our participation, all the time.

We can change the direction of the country with our vote.

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

Politics is not perfect but it's the best available nonviolent means of changing how we live.

In general people feel more relaxed about participating in politics. They aren't frightened as they used to be.

But democracy isn't a state of perfection. It has to be improved, and that means constant vigilance.

Well, I couldn't do the day-to-day stuff of being a politician or anything, but I just think everybody should have an opinion and everybody should vote, and that's what we're built on.

Pakistan's future viability, stability and security lie in empowering its people and building political institutions. My goal is to prove that the fundamental battle for the hearts and minds of a generation can be accomplished only under democracy.

I take the debate on the method of promoting democracy seriously.

Voting is a civic sacrament.

Democracy is a slow and complex process …. Democracy is counter-intuitive. Democracy takes time to learn. It takes years or even decades to take on the habits of democracy…. If you jump too fast, the wrong people come to power…. Yes democracy, but democracy slow.

Democratic reform, depends less on legislative amendments than on creating a climate of democracy.

Democracy is built from the bottom up, one step at a time.

Elections alone will never be enough to ensure good governance.

Democracy comes alive not when government does anything, because government cannot be depended on to rectify serious injustices. It comes alive when people organize and do something about it.

Voting is like alchemy - taking an abstract value and breathing life into it.

In a democracy, in a functioning democracy, what would be happening is that popular organizations, unions, political groupings, others would be developing their programs, putting them forth, insisting that their representatives implement those programs.

Voting is the only way to make change in a democracy.

We believe the way social change occurs in the United States, over the last 200 years, is the democratic process.