Referendums Quotes

The founding fathers set up this country as a republic—not a democracy.

Should National Security Issues be decided by a Local Referendum?

[Urging a referendum:] The issue of private ownership of land is too critical a decision to be left to the government.

I’m not in favor of referendums, and I will never put one before the British people.

I believe in war, if the people want war. They have to do the fighting. I believe, first, in a referendum to the people, and failing that, a decision by the people's representatives in Congress assembled.

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.

We can't have a referendum on every important question. This is a republic, not a democracy. This is Chicago, not California.

When did it become unconstitutional to exclude homosexual couples from marriage.

The Government have made it clear that the constitutional treaty will be ratified in the UK only after a referendum.

No, a euro referendum will not be part of a government programme if we get the chance to form one.

Except in case of attack by armed forces … the people shall have the sole power by a national referendum to declare war or to engage in warfare overseas.

Ohio was voted wet by the people and dry by its misrepresentatives.

Universal adult—including female—suffrage under proportional representation, the right of referendum, the election of judges, the separation of church and state Length of working day fixed at 8 hours, regulations on the conditions of work, right to form trade unions …

There were lots of programs over the course of the two referendums and the general tenor of them was that if Quebec were to separate, then Canada would disintegrate.

Referendums have always posed a threat when it comes to EU policy, because EU policy is complicated. They're an opportunity for those from all political camps who like to oversimplify things.

A referendum in many of our states means to defer woman suffrage until the most ignorant, most narrow-minded, most un-American, are ready for it.

The recession is everywhere. We need to be heard. Wouldn't it be great if there could be more referendums so we could have regular voting on specific points?

Internet referendums will not, in the beginning, have any legally binding effect, but they will be politically binding.

A radical ... and revolutionary ... attack upon the fundamental basic principle of representative democracy for free people.

I think referendums are fantastic as long as the question is phrased in a way which is not meant to deliberately confuse or confound people.

Referendums are a democratic instrument, but so are decisions reached in a parliamentary democracy. I advise extreme caution when it comes to referendums. In Germany too.

Every single election in every country has a component of a referendum in it.

My personal opinion is that a referendum is not necessary to sense public opinion or get a non-partisan consideration of this question. It cannot relieve the President and the Senate of their constitutional powers and duties in respect to foreign relations. I believe the American people prefer to express their will through the representatives selected by them, and in accordance with our long-established constitutional methods.

My preoccupation has been from the very beginning that I believe that the "Brexit" referendum result is the most disastrous peacetime result that we've seen in Britain.

A referendum is little more than a "rumour of choice." The idea behind the mechanism, ever since its first modern manifestations two centuries ago under Napoleon, has been to replace democracy with the sensation of democracy. That is: to replace the slow, complex, eternally unclear continuity of democracy, and all the awkwardness of citizen participation, with something clear and fast which allows those in power to impose their agenda. Through an apparently simple question with a one-syllable answer, those who ask can get a blank cheque from the citizenry; that is, if they choose their moment well and come up with a winning question.