"The inherent disadvantage of democracy is that it ties the hands of those who are honest about it immensely, while it allows those who do not take it seriously to do almost anything."
Václav Havel
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"... Along with Václav Klaus, Havel was one of the two Janus-faced faces of the Czech nation: he embodied what we wanted to see ourselves as (but what we were not at all), whereas Klaus expressed what we were (but what we did not want to see ourselves as)....
Tomáš Pecina
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"Democracy eventually results in mob rule."
Aristotle
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"Democracy is not built by the descent of the elites to the level of the mob, but by the elevation of the mob to the level of the elites."
Gustave Le Bon
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"If there is a stalemate and a frozen conflict, we must honestly say that our children will fight, or our grandchildren. We have already lost a great many people. We want to live in such a way that we raise children who will then definitely fight."
Volodymyr Zelensky
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We don't have an elite that we have liquidated ourselves. The new one likes to learn the old ways. I am reminded of other ways in Switzerland. The government has seven ministers. They elect a "media" president from among their ranks for a year. The ministers are not allowed to use their cell phones, they are not allowed to talk to each other, the meeting room is secured against eavesdropping. The deputies meet three times a year. They know the dates a year in advance (except for special sessions). They have their civic occupations and are paid only for necessary expenses. They do not appear in the media - they have to work. Citizens wouldn't care. They vote for parties based on how they make their living. I wonder how many of today's citizen legislators would practice their professions under those conditions? Recently a representative of an African country was in Switzerland and wanted to experience the popular vote (Landsgemeinde). The cantonal leadership announced that it would be a good idea to raise taxes. They were approved. The African wondered, "What, they approved higher taxes?" I would have voted for it too, but not in the Czech Republic. The Velvet Revolution only necessarily and legally continues the previous "evolution"... JŠ
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