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Samizdata quote of the day

When I hear someone say we should ‘democratise’ something, that’s code for ‘make civil things political’ because that much misused word ‘democracy’ doesn’t mean ‘interacting civil society’, it means politics (i.e. struggle to control means of collective coercion)

– Perry de Havilland

8 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • pete

    I’m always concerned when people say it’d be a good idea for some things to be removed from politics, for example the NHS and education.

    What they usually want is for unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats or employees to run them, often because they are bureaucrats or employees themselves.

  • Mr Ed

    This is a thread with no name.

    Politics is the rewarding of failure and the punishment of success.

  • I know I have often pleaded for people to use a specific, distinguishable title, not ‘Samizdata Quote of the Day’ (because if there are several SQotD in succession it makes it hard to follow who is commenting on what.).

    But I didn’t mean have no title at all. 🙂

    Maybe consider updating this to ‘Samizdata Quote of Tuesday’ or ‘Democratising versus Peoples Democratising’ or something.

  • Paul Marks

    The post is true.

    The left (which dominates the education system and the “mainstream” media – especially the entertainment media) do use (abuse) language in this horrible way.

  • I’ve been through the desert on a thread with no name,
    It felt good to be out from the rain….

  • Umbriel

    I like that end kicker about the “means of collective coercion”.

    Lamenting the state of things prior to the last US election, I described the situation as: “Government is the gun on the floor that everyone wrestles for control of lest it be turned on them.”

  • Nicholas (Unlicenced Joker) Gray

    The end result of Democratic ‘Sharing’ would be where the State allocates who you date, and who you marry. Good looks are considered an unearned natural resource, so we should all be able to use and exploit them ‘fairly’. However my request for a date with Miranda Kerr seems to have been lost in the Bureaucracy…..

  • Thailover

    “Democratize” = mob rule.