Mohsin Hamid Quotes

Healthy debate has been replaced by automatic sensors that eliminate the need for actual talking during a filibuster - a la 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.' Robust debate is necessary in a democratic society. Instead, our discourse has been relegated to media spin by expert entertainers.

Discussion is the bedrock of American democracy.

All people have the duty and the right to participate in public debate.

Part of what's great about America, and Canada as well, is that we can talk about our political leaders in public.

In democratic republics such as ours, citizens rely on public criticism of ideas and people to determine national policy.

Our democracy works because the parties air and debate their differences in public.

You don't have to go and criticize your opponents, how bad they are and so on. It is a contest of ideas. I got my ideas, you got your ideas right. We will let Singaporeans decide.

A basic tenet of a healthy democracy is open dialogue and transparency.

The Greens have every right to run, that's what democracy is, and they should argue their point by saying how they think people should vote, not by telling us to be silent.

I used to do volunteer work in poor areas of Cairo, and people would gather their money together to get a satellite dish. You'd see them huddling around and for the first time seeing issues being debated on TV that had never been talked about before. And that is the biggest promoter of democracy you could possibly have.

Democracy makes us articulate our views, defend them, and refine them.

I think Thomas Jefferson would have said the more speech, the better.

Talk radio is an asset to our nation because it encourages strong and healthy debate about public policy, and there is no reason to affect that debate with government legislation.

It's heartening when people hear for the first time that their vote really matters.

A mature society understands that at the heart of democracy is argument.

And if that's what the American people want, then that's what the policy should be, of course. But the idea that anything in the United States is too sensitive to discuss or too dangerous to discuss is really, I think, absurd.

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.

There is a continuous stream of opinions on governance issues expressed daily, not only in our Parliament and in the print media, but also on talk-radio and social media.

This is the marketplace of political ideas. This is how America operates. It's a free market. It's free-wheeling. From the outside, it looks unpredictable. There's a circus-like free market.

I'm listening to America, not to the pundits.

At public meetings avoid specific discussion of public policy.

The method of democracy is to bring ... conflicts out into the open where their special claims can be seen and appraised, where they can be discussed and judged.

We shall determine all matters of state by public discussion, after assemblies have been convoked far and wide.

The majority voice should be controlling ... after a full, fair, and candid expression.

... in these elections of 1970, something has gone wrong. There has been name-calling and deception of almost unprecedented volume. Honorable men have been slandered. Faithful servants of the country have had their motives questioned and their patriotism doubted.... The danger from this assault is not that a few more Democrats might be defeated—the country can survive that. The true danger is that the American people will have been deprived of that public debate, that opportunity for fair judgment, which is the heartbeat of the democratic process. And that is something the country cannot afford.