Samuel Kanyon Doe Quotes

What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

Democracy is much too important to be left to public opinion.

Decision making in a democracy depends above all on knowledge and not just the intel available to presidents and policymakers.

Let's say there are 500 sons and daughters like you in each state. Then we could control the government.

To lead a country, you must periodically hold a national consultation in which people representing different programmes can make a bid for power.

What we call a democratic society might be defined for certain purposes as one in which the majority is always prepared to put down a revolutionary minority.

In a democracy, supposedly we hold power by what we do at the ballot box, so therefore the more we know about political power the better our choices should be and the better, in theory, our democracy should be.

The function of a parliamentary democracy, under universal suffrage, historically considered, is to expose wealth-privilege to the attacks of the people.

It is the healthiest thing in a democracy when the people who are elected exert power.

[Describing America:] Public opinion, which is there omnipotent, is generally right in its aims ...

In the United States, where the numerical majority have long been in full possession of collective despotism, they would probably be as unwilling to part with it as a single despot or an aristocracy.

The great advantage of representatives is their capacity of discussing public affairs. For this, the people collectively are extremely unfit, which is one of the chief inconveniences of a democracy.

The people want to exercise power but what on earth would they do with it if it were given to them?

If we could, somehow, get a vote of the people of Tennessee and have it result properly, it would be worth more to us than a battle gained. How long before we can get such a vote?

A democracy ought to have a democratic navy.

I’m not allergic to democracy. The only advice I have is let’s give it a different name and keep doing it.

The ballot box is a license to govern, not a mandate to rule.

We have submitted the issues to the American people, and their word is law.

Democracy is indispensable, not because it renders superfluous the conquest of political power by the proletariat, but, on the contrary, because it makes this seizure of power both necessary and possible.

The Sudanese people decide who rules them.

We are a democracy, and we get the leaders we deserve because we elect them.

If an election doesn't go your way, you don't get to call a do-over. Part of respecting our democracy is respecting the will of the voters.

I would say that every political party must remain in some form in a state or the Centre for the sake of democracy.

I am a firm believer in the importance of democracy, not only as the ultimate goal, but also as an essential part of the process.