Peter L. Berger Quotes

The biggest lie of all is that capitalism is democracy. We have no way of understanding democracy outside of the market, just as we have no understanding of how to understand freedom outside of market values.

It has been true in Western societies and it seems to be true elsewhere that you do not find democratic systems apart from capitalism, or apart from a market economy, if you prefer that term.

Capitalism unchecked is not a democratic system.

So I think one can say on empirical grounds - not because of some philosophical principle - that you can't have democracy unless you have a market economy.

If allowed to run free of the social system, capitalism will attempt to corrupt and undermine democracy, which is after all not a natural state.

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

Some people think that as the Chinese economy becomes more and more capitalistic it will inevitably become more democratic.

Capitalism and the market are presented as synonymous, but they are not. Capitalism is both the enemy of the market and democracy.

Liberal capitalism is not perfect, but compared to the other 'isms,' it's far superior.

Finance capital curtails democratic rights, narrowing the scope of democracy and paving the way for the open and violent dictatorship of fascist rule.

When great wealth collects the way it has in the last two decades, it develops an arrogance…. You see it in the development of a survival of the fittest philosophy, one that says markets are more important than democracy.

Capitalism is very undemocratic. Capitalism gives you power according to your wealth while democracy gives you power according to your existence.

You can't imagine a free market coupled with a dictatorship.

Freedom in economic arrangements is itself a component of freedom broadly understood, so economic freedom is an end in itself ... Economic freedom is also an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom.

I don't know much about Capitalism, but I do know about Democracy and freedom, and if Capitalism may change in many, many ways, I'm not really very much interested in Capitalism.

A free economy is as essential to society as democratic political institutions. A strong market-based economy is the fertile ground for democratic freedoms that we think are important.

We have established a new basis in our country in which economic liberalization would continue to flourish alongside democratic forces and deregulated power structure.

I was born too late to have any temptation with communism, or at least Soviet-type communism. Travelling in Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union, you clearly don't want to defend a system that would have empty shops and a totalitarian regime and internal passports.

Even in a society as tightly controlled as Singapore's, the market creates certain forces which perhaps in the long run may lead to democracy.

I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy.

Political freedom can be inimical to economic freedom.

Economic freedom is an end in itself …. Economic freedom is an indispensable means towards the achievement of political freedom.

Economic freedom tends to lead to political freedom.

The most damning indictment of the United States in Central America is that we have allowed the sterile voices of Marxism-Leninism to claim falsely the mantle of economic justice and hope for ordinary people when it should be carried by the heirs of Thomas Jefferson.

Free markets tend to promote democracy.