Tyranny of the Minority Quotes

“Democracies get into trouble when mainstream parties tolerate, condone, or protect authoritarian extremists—when they become authoritarian enablers.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“The GOP now faced the same “conservative dilemma” that has confronted conservative parties throughout history: How does a party of economic elites appeal to a broader electorate while preserving its main constituencies’ interests, power, and way of life?”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Most twenty-first-century autocracies are built via constitutional hardball.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“First, they must respect the outcome of free and fair elections, win or lose. This means consistently and unhesitatingly accepting defeat. Second, democrats must unambiguously reject violence (or the threat of violence) as a means of achieving political goals.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“America also differs in another way: extremist forces actually ascended to national power, whereas in Europe they have been largely confined to the opposition or, in a few cases, coalition governments.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Freedom House’s Global Freedom Index gives countries a score between 0 and 100 each year, with 100 being the most democratic. In 2015, the United States received a score of 90, which was roughly in line with countries like Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the U.K. But after that, America’s score declined steadily, reaching 83 in 2021. Not only was that score lower than every established democracy in western Europe, but it was lower than new or historically troubled democracies like Argentina, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Taiwan.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“If the party did not stop “talking to itself,” the report warned, it would be “increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Parties can—and frequently do—adapt and find new ways to appeal to broader electorates. But parties that do not adapt to social and demographic change risk electoral disaster.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“The “Great White Switch”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Making it simpler to vote, ending gerrymandering, replacing the Electoral College with a direct popular vote, eliminating the Senate filibuster, making Senate representation more proportional, ending lifetime tenure on the Supreme Court, and making it a little easier to reform the Constitution—all of these changes would simply catch us up to the rest of the world.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“History teaches us that when mainstream politicians take the more expedient path of semi-loyalty, tolerating or condoning antidemocratic extremists, the extremists are often strengthened, and a seemingly solid democracy can collapse upon itself.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“During periods of extreme polarization or crisis, antidemocratic positions may enjoy considerable rank-and-file support.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Democracy’s assassins always have accomplices—political insiders who appear to abide by democracy’s rules but quietly assault them. These are what Linz called “semi-loyal” democrats.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Fear is often what drives the turn to authoritarianism.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“If you have any doubt that Black citizens do not enjoy the same rights under the law as white citizens, apply the Kyle Rittenhouse test: Could a young Black man cross state lines with a semiautomatic rifle, walk unmolested by police into a protest, fire into a crowd, kill two people, and go free?”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections.” Losing hurts, but in a democracy it is inevitable.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Meaningful steps toward democratic inclusion often trigger intense—even authoritarian—reactions.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“The republic did not collapse between 2016 and 2021, but it became undeniably less democratic.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“When a political party represents a group that perceives itself to be losing ground, it often radicalizes.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“This is the banality of authoritarianism. Many of the politicians who preside over a democracy’s collapse are just ambitious careerists trying to stay in office or perhaps win a higher one. They do not oppose democracy out of deep-seated principle but are merely indifferent to it. They tolerate or condone antidemocratic extremism because it is the path of least resistance. These politicians often tell themselves they are just doing what’s necessary to get ahead. But, ultimately, they become indispensable partners in democracy’s demise.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“constitutional system contains an unusually large number of counter-majoritarian institutions. These include the following: The Bill of Rights, which was added to the Constitution in 1791, just after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. A Supreme Court with lifetime appointments for justices and power of judicial review, or the authority to strike down as unconstitutional laws passed by congressional majorities. Federalism, which devolves considerable lawmaking power to state and local governments, beyond the reach of national majorities. A bicameral Congress, which means that two legislative majorities are required to pass laws.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“three basic principles that democratic parties must follow: they must always accept the results of fair elections, win or lose; they must unambiguously reject the use of violence to gain or hold on to power; and they must break ties to antidemocratic extremists.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“And so the Lodge bill, which might have preserved fair elections across the country, died by filibuster.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“abolitionist and radical sentiments.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“practical, constitutional, and happy solution to the race problem.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“legal machinery…which has in a gentlemanly way abolished the republican form of government altogether.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“The largest of these, the Ku Klux Klan, emerged in Tennessee in early 1866 and quickly spread throughout the South.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“America’s post–Civil War democratization was a strictly partisan affair.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“The Wilmington coup occurred toward the end of an ambitious, but ultimately failed, experiment with democratization across the U.S. South.”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

“Finally, politicians may design new laws that, while seemingly impartial, are crafted to target opponents”
― Steven Levitsky, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point