Beyond Democracy Quotes

“Actually, in its essence, democracy is a totalitarian ideology, though not as extreme as Nazism, fascism or communism. In principle, no freedom is safe in a democracy, every aspect of the individual's life is potentially subject to government control. At the end of the day, the minority is completely at the mercy of the whims of the majority. Even if a democracy has a constitution limiting the powers of the government, this constitution too can be amended by the majority. The only fundamental right you have in a democracy, besides running for office, is the right to vote for a political party. With that solitary vote you hand over your independence and your freedom to the will of the majority.”
― Frank Karsten, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government

“You see, the democratic system automatically breeds politicians who promise more than they can deliver, because the politicians who promise the most are the ones who get elected. So why blame them?”
― Frank Karsten, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government

“Right now nobody really knows where to go from here. Everyone is stuck in the tunnel vision called democracy. The only 'solution' that people can think of is ‘more democracy’, i.e. more government intervention. Are young people drinking too much alcohol? Raise the drinking age! Are the chronically ill neglected in nursing homes? Send in more government inspectors! Is there a lack of innovation? Install a government Innovation Board! Do children learn too little at school? Mandate more tests! Is crime on the increase? Set up a new government department! Regulate, forbid, force, discourage, check, inspect, pamper, reform and, above all, throw money at the problem.
And what if it all won’t work? Eventually the call for a Great Leader will be heard, a strong man to put an end to all the cackling and will deliver Law and Order. There is a certain logic to this. If everything needs to be regulated by the State, then why not have it done properly by a benevolent dictator? Away with the endless dithering, the indecisiveness, the quarreling, the inefficiency. But this would be a devil’s bargain. We would get law and order, that’s true. But the price would be an end to freedom, dynamism and growth.”
― Karel Beckman , Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government

“The only difference between progressives and conservatives is that the former are likely to complain about too much economic freedom, and the latter about too much social freedom.”
― Frank Karsten, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government

“Democracy is the opposite of freedom - almost inherent to the democratic process is that it tends toward less liberty instead of more - and democracy is not something to be fixed. Democracy is a collectivist system and is inherently broken, just like socialism.”
― Frank Karsten, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government

“(P43) ‘We’ is the most abused word in a democracy. Proponents of a measure always say "we want something," "we must do something", "we need something", "we have a right". As if everyone naturally agrees. What they really mean is that they want it, but just don’t want to take responsibility themselves. People will say "we must help the Third World" or " we must fight in Afghanistan". They never say, " I'm going to help the Third World , who's with me?" or " I'm going to fight against the Taliban." Democracy thus offers a convenient way of shifting personal responsibility to others . By saying ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ 99.999% of the burden of a decision is carried by others.”
― Frank Karsten Karel Beckman, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government

“P15: Like a Dutch comedian once said: "Democracy is the will of the people . Every morning I am surprised to read in the newspaper what I want.”
― Frank Karsten Karel Beckman, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government