Noah Feldman Quotes
We like democracy because why? The pathologies of the U.S. version are so obvious in the aftermath of the latest averted crisis that we need to ask ourselves whether it’s worth it - and why electoral democracy hasn’t self-destructed before. Should Tunisians or Egyptians opt for the Chinese model, where rational autocrats may restrict rights, but no one threatens to blow up world markets in the name of an 18th-century tax protest?
Feldman, Noah. "Why Democracy Survives." Bloomberg, 20 Oct. 2013.
The editorial was defending the two published cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad which were offensive to Muslims throughout the world.
Even in 1828 there were issues of which politicians would protect Constitutional rights and which might not.
The United States had then only existed for about 30 years but was already a model.
In his early political career he talked and acted like a democrat forcing the military out of politics which they had been active in. He obtained the support of the democrats in Turkey and the Western Democratic governments. However as he amassed power he weakened or eliminated most of the4 democartic aspects of Turkish society. He eradicated the independence of the judiciary, gained control over the schools and the universities,, adopted many Islamic aspects of government eradicating the secular government which was the cornerstone of the Attaturk bloodless revolution, prohibited demonstrations against the government and jailed over 150 journalists and forcing many others to flee thereby controlling the press and other information sources. Ironically, despite his one-man autocratic rule, about half the population, many of whom had supported him when he pretended to be a democrat, opposed him causing him to become even more autocratic.
Noah R. Feldman is an American academic, author, columnist, public intellectual, and host of the podcast Deep Background. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. His work is devoted to constitutional law, with an emphasis on free speech, law & religion, and the history of constitutional ideas.
