Direct Democracy Quotes

“Listening to the Gospel on Palm Sunday, it struck me that many people criticise Pontius Pilate for his role in the affair while letting the multitude go scot free. Pilate did what little he could to dissuade them from the extremely unpleasant course of action on which they were set, but the multitude kept shouting for a crucifixion. Pilate could not have done more without provoking a riot. The crucifixion when it happened was a victory for direct democracy against the effete, liberal paternalism of Pilate.
If I am right, and the crucifixion be seen as an early victory for the principle of direct democracy, then it must follow...that good men should struggle to confound and frustrate the multitude whenever possible.”
― auberon waugh

“Working class bodies (like any other) will only flourish as long as there is a sense of purpose in participating in them. If there is no real discussion, if everything of significance is decided in advance elsewhere, the organ atrophies and the participants vote with their feet. That kind of apathy and passivity is what capitalist society relies upon. Demanding that we put a cross on a piece of paper, to indicate our trust in representatives who can do what they like for five years, is the sole political duty of the “citizen”. Meanwhile the so-called democratic state represents only the interests of the propertied classes. Socialist society is different. It is not just about dispossessing the wealthy of their ownership of the means of production, even if abolishing both the law of value and exploitation are bedrocks on which a new mode of production must arise. Socialism demands the active participation of all producers in the decisions that affect their lives. Its democracy is direct and based on the ability to recall delegates if they do not fulfil the mandate they were given by the collectivity.”
― Jock Dominie, Russia: Revolution and Counter-Revolution, 1905-1924. A View from the Communist Left

“The more routine that systematised activities are, the more nearly they are of the monotonous character seen in the habits of social animals and the less necessary are master builders; the more novel actions are, the more necessary are master builders. Dislike of the leader and the promoter, though linked emotionally to progressivism, is linked logically to total conservatism. Conversely, an authoritarian approach, natural enough in the instigator of new activities, is unjustified in the mere overseer of routines.”
― Bertrand De Jouvenel, Sovereignty: An Inquiry into the Political Good

“Protesting is a form of direct democracy, but in America national policy is made of representative democracy.”
― Charles M. Blow, The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto

“English: "Pain is a manifestation of democracy of cells."

Česky: „Bolest je projevem demokracie buněk.”
― Sebastián Wortys, Vtiposcifilo-z/s-ofie

“If it were up to me, I would chose to live in a federation of a thousand small republics each governed by a supermajority of likeminded individuals and their votes-- votes to make law (direct democracy) or votes to elect trustees who vote to make law (indirect democracy)”
― R.W. Mecklenburg

“Supermajorities, however, depend on smallness. And there will never be a global supermajority, unless the elite spend the next thousand years brainwashing us into one androgynous being, as perfectly malleable as Silly Putty is.”
― R.W. Mecklenburg

“Unlike authoritarian regimes which strive at shaping individuality and ultimately result in its creative death, direct democracy aims at liberating it.”
― Yavor Tarinski, Direct Democracy: Context, Society, Individuality