Eduardo Paes Quotes

There's a digital revolution taking place both in and out of government in favor of open-sourced data, innovation, and collaboration.

A short exposure to the convention convinced me that the Internet may save the Democracy in that it is a way for the people, for the citizens, to have some direct influence on the government.

Democracy, in brief, requires government by parties because the citizens are too numerous, too ill-informed and too preoccupied to come together spontaneously to choose the policies and leaders they wish to prevail. Political machinery has to be worked. The parties work it.

We have to take our democracy back. We cannot leave it to Facebook or Snapchat or anyone else. We have to take democracy back and renew it. Society is about people and not about technology.

Representative democracy is in crisis in the United States.

Having a vote once every four years is not the same thing as democracy.

There is a democratic deficit. In Latin America in particular there is real concern that democratic governments are not delivering and that is leading to experimenting with different models that are much less democratic. But even in Western Europe the deficit is a problem.

It is hard to make government representative when it is also remote.

The Internet is changing the way we think of our relationship with government; it has the potential to bring to life what Abraham Lincoln said about the presidency being an instrument of the people.

We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices. Every citizen can be a reporter, can take on the powers that be.

It's not just parliament that requires radical modernisation. It's our democratic processes.

Through a blog, an ordinary citizen such as myself can use the Internet, this thing invented by Albert Gore, to talk from my house to the U.S. capital and to make use of my right to point out to government officials and to the media when they are wrong.

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that democracy will improve the function of policy.

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

Americans really expect to interact with our government digitally.

The aim of open government is to take advantage of the know-how and entrepreneurial spirit of those outside government institutions to work together with those inside government to solve problems.

The crisis of democracy in the West is not the result of falling in love with another system. In Europe and America people who are disillusioned with democracy do not dream about the Chinese model or any other form of authoritarian rule. They do not dream about government that controls Internet and puts in prison those daring to disagree.

What we are witnessing is the birth of something I call 'Polisdigitocracy.' This is a form of government that counts participation and transparency as its cornerstones and uses technology as its guide. The digital revolution is allowing democracy to recall its foundations and evolution is modernizing and reinforcing our fundamental values.

Government is supposed to be about how we do things together, and we can do that much more together if we use technology smartly right now.

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

I have one desire: That is to have a principle-based, member-driven Congress. Period. That's what I want.

Logically, in a society ostensibly grounded on representative government, it would seem reasonable that a majority of the people in a State would elect a majority of that State’s legislators.

We have an electronic democracy.

How necessary for modern liberty a national representative government is—a representative system comprehending the whole state

Sure the people are stupid: the human race is stupid. Sure Congress is an inefficient instrument of government. But the people are not stupid enough to abandon representative government for any other kind, including government by the guy who knows.