Democratic Dilemma Quotes

That’s one difficulty about a democracy. Nothing ever gets decided—even after its been decided.

Courts are an aristocratic institution in a democracy. That's the dilemma for an institution that has the function of reviewing the will of the people. We're bound to be "anti-majoritarian.

There's a terrible danger in voting for the lesser of two evils because the parties can set it up that way.

The people are that part of the state that does not know what it wants.

An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principles and aims as peas in the same pod.

The dilemma of dining with the devil, of cooperation, interaction, even of the most limited kind with an unelected regime, will always remain a cross on which committed democrats, reformers, radicals and such, in any authoritarian corner of the globe, and especially in Africa, find themselves impaled …. It boils down, ultimately, to one’s personal confidence in determining the length of the spoon with which one dines with the devil and one’s ability to keep a firm hold on it.

Every member has his own way of sorting out the conflict between personal judgment and constituent opinion.

I know that when I look at today’s Mexicans and Central Americans, they seem to me fundamentally the same as my grandparents seeking a better life in America. On the other side, however, open immigration can’t coexist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure health care and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global. So Democrats have mixed feelings about immigration; in fact, it’s an agonizing issue.