Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

Increased town size hurts real democracy in two ways. First… it dramatically reduces the percentage of citizens who attend town meetings. Second, town size increases the number of citizens who attend, which dramatically reduces the percentage of these attendees who participate.”

To enable consensus politics to develop we need to empower people where they live. This means devolving financial resources and political power down to the community level. One of the greatest blocks to movement is fear. This fear can only be removed when people feel their voices are being heard by government and when they have a say in their own lives and communities.

As free citizens in a political democracy, we have a responsibility to be interested and involved in the affairs of the human community, be it at the local or the global level.

There's much more we can be doing in Parliament, we could be giving more power back to people at local government level, through local referendums.

I would rather have 1000 school board members than one president and no school board members.

The value of democracy lies in the fact that good or bad government has its roots in the localities where people know each other and where they account for their actions to their neighbors.

We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.

I hope that we increasingly shift power to local governments.

What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people involved - versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.

Government, in the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.

The whole idea of a democracy is that we ourselves, the people, are supposed to make a path of our politics, and it is we who with our feet and our vote and our labors and our vigilance are supposed to shape our country.

God has called us to be His representatives in our nation and in our world. Select candidates who represent your views and work for their election.

It is the duty of American Muslims to participate constructively in the political process, if only to protect their rights, and give support to views and causes they favor.

Politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

Devolution [decentralization of government] cannot stop at the State House. It must go down to City Hall.

Citizens are refined, cultivated, and very political. I believe in the legitimacy of their participation.

Quite as serious an error [of the French] is the failure to provide for local self-government. As this lies at the bottom of republican institutions, and should be, moreover, the first concern of democracy

A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation

I think everybody who has a brain should get involved in politics. Working within. Not criticizing it from the outside. Become an active participant, no matter how feeble you think the effort is.

I have my own vision to lead the Seoul City, but whether or not I can display it totally depends on the citizens.

I'm always trying to invite citizens to participate in the process of public decision-making.

We want councillors and MPs to be more closely involved in housing issues because this will help to strengthen local democracy and accountability.

The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.