Alfred Maurice de Zayas Quotes

We cannot be mere consumers of good governance, we must be participants; we must be co-creators.

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.

But, you know, I'm sorry, I think democracy requires participation. I mean, I don't want to proselytize but I do feel some sort of duty to participate in the process in some way other than just blindly getting behind a political party.

Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Americans need to be engaged and invested in the legislative process that affects their daily lives, otherwise we are just democracy in name only.

The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote.

Our democracy flourishes when people stand up for themselves and engage in the political process.

As I was saying, half a democracy is showing up and people have got not only to agree with this agenda, some of these third parties listeners, they've got to show up.

The era of big government is over, but the era of big challenge is not. We need an era of big citizenship. There are many important people at this summit, but the most important title is 'citizen.' This is our republic. Let us keep it!

You can't afford to hate politics. The politics of this country is democracy. Democracy is by the people, of the people and for the people. The day people stop taking active part in the politics of this country, democracy will not survive.

It seems to me that actual democracy is where all of us get to participate and it's not just a sort of a blunt little dry hump in a ballot box, but an actual penetrative process.

In the final analysis it doesn't really matter what the political system is...We don't need perfect political systems; we need perfect participation.

Our democracy is not something to be taken for granted. You have to fight for it. You have to commit yourself to working for it - for the long haul.

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

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.

A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.

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

We are not perfect. Democracy is a messy business … Democracy depends on people getting and keeping involved … In our democracy, the government is not them; it is us.

The fundamentalist call has resonance because it invited men to participate… in contrast to a political culture that reduces citizens to spectators and asked them to leave things to their rulers.

Democracy is not something we have, it's something we do.

It goes without saying that it's important to vote.

I think it's the height of patriotism to continue to exercise your right as a citizen and to hold your government to account. Isn't that what the very essence of democracy is about?

Democracy should be practiced not every six years, but every day.

Our whole system of government is based on "We the people," but if we the people don't pay attention to what's going on, we have no right to bellyache or squawk when things go wrong.