Democracy & Freedom

Three Cheers for Democracy & Freedom..

The punishment we suffer, if we refuse to take an interest in matters of government, is to live under the government of worse men. - Plato

So Two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. – Edward Morgan Forster

Freedom from hate, unconditionally; freedom from self-pity; freedom from the fear of doing something that would help someone else more than it does me; freedom from the kind of pride that makes me feel I am better than my brother. - Duke Ellington quoting the four freedoms by which his composing colleague Billy Strayhorn had lived - from notes on CD “1969 All-Star White House Tribute to Duke Ellington, Blue Note, c 2002 Capital Records Inc. (April 29, 1969 70th birthday party for Duke Ellington at the White House – celebrations at which Nixon gave him the Medal of Freedom.)