Robert W. Welch Jr. Quotes

As someone who is in awe and grateful every day to be in a country where freedom of the press, free speech and free elections are a way of life, I am wowed, amazed and excited by the opportunity to moderate a 2012 presidential debate.

The freedom to persuade and suggest is the essence of the democratic process.

I believe in the greatness of our democracy.

My family, my friends, we live in a democratic country and people have the right to express their opinions.

If you value the democratic process, you have to value the protection of political speech.

We have to protect our democracy.

I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.

As to the media, they are protected by the First Amendment, as they should be.

I came into American politics and into this political system proud of politics and the way we make decisions.

Politics is a good thing!

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.

I am proud to be in the Senate. I have always been proud to be a part of our political system. It is a remarkable privilege to participate in this system of ours.

Democracy is a process by which people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.

You know, we're taught that in a democracy power comes from being elected.

In a democracy, as a matter of course, every effort is made to seize upon and create publick opinion, which is, substantially, securing power.

Our democratic institutions are adversarial.

I am a democrat.

This is a democracy, not a dictatorship. Polls give candidates a method to find out what voters want.

Democracy is a babel of competing propagandas.

Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people

The process of our democracy must not be imperiled by the denial of essential powers of free government.

It is only in the freest of nations that people can not only criticize the government, fairly or unfairly, but in extraordinarily few—only the greatest—do the negative criticisms get very wide distribution. Look for the nation where their media are full of criticisms, and there you will find a nation sufficiently free and confident to consider possible improvement from any and all sources.

Every man has a right to be heard; but no man has the right to strangle democracy with a single set of vocal cords.

We're a robust democracy here. That's the wonderful thing about this country.

We pride ourselves on our democracy, but when you see the way it actually works, I think it is worthy of contempt.