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How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future QUOTES

How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future QUOTES

81 " To entrench themselves in power, however, governments must do more—they must also change the rules of the game. Authoritarians seeking to consolidate their power often reform the constitution, the electoral system, and other institutions in ways that disadvantage or weaken the opposition, in effect tilting the playing field against their rivals. These reforms are often carried out under the guise of some public good, while in reality they are stacking the deck in favor of incumbents. And because they involve legal and even constitutional changes, they may allow autocrats to lock in these advantages for years and even decades. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

82 " The USA PATRIOT Act, signed into law by George W. Bush in October 2001, never would have passed had the September 11 attacks not occurred the previous month. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

83 " Populists tend to deny the legitimacy of established parties, attacking them as undemocratic and even unpatriotic. They tell voters that the existing system is not really a democracy but instead has been hijacked, corrupted, or rigged by the elite. And they promise to bury that elite and return power to “the people. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

84 " The real protection against would-be authoritarians has not been Americans’ firm commitment to democracy but, rather, the gatekeepers—our political parties. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

85 " the convention system was an effective gatekeeper, in that it systematically filtered out dangerous candidates. Party insiders provided what political scientists called “peer review. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

86 " Smoke-filled back rooms therefore served as a screening mechanism, helping to keep out the kind of demagogues and extremists who derailed democracy elsewhere in the world. American party gatekeeping was so effective that outsiders simply couldn’t win. As a result, most didn’t even try. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

87 " Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company. One of the richest men in the world in the early twentieth century, Ford was a modern version of the kind of extremist demagogue Hamilton had warned against. Using his Dearborn Independent as a megaphone, he railed against bankers, Jews, and Bolsheviks, publishing articles claiming that Jewish banking interests were conspiring against America. His views attracted praise from racists worldwide. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

88 " Yet Ford was also a widely admired, even beloved, figure in the United States, especially in the Midwest. A “poor farm boy who made good,” the plainspoken businessman was revered by many rural Americans as a folk hero, alongside such presidents as Washington and Lincoln. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

89 " Ford harbored serious presidential ambitions, he was born a century too soon. What mattered far more than public opinion was the opinion of party leaders, and party leaders soundly rejected him. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

90 " Despite popular enthusiasm for his candidacy, Ford was effectively locked out of contention. Senator James Couzens called the idea of his candidacy ridiculous. “How can a man over sixty years old, who…has no training, no experience, aspire to such an office?” he asked. “It is most ridiculous. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

91 " Party gatekeeping also helped confine George Wallace to the margins of politics. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

92 " The post-1972 primary system was especially vulnerable to a particular kind of outsider: individuals with enough fame or money to skip the “invisible primary.” In other words, celebrities. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

93 " Party gatekeepers were shells of what they once were, for two main reasons. One was a dramatic increase in the availability of outside money, accelerated (though hardly caused) by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

94 " The other major factor diminishing the power of traditional gatekeepers was the explosion of alternative media, particularly cable news and social media. Whereas the path to national name recognition once ran through relatively few mainstream channels, which favored establishment politicians over extremists, the new media environment made it easier for celebrities to achieve wide name recognition—and public support—practically overnight. This was particularly true on the Republican side, "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

95 " Although many factors contributed to Donald Trump’s stunning political success, his rise to the presidency is, in good measure, a story of ineffective gatekeeping. Party gatekeepers failed at three key junctures: the “invisible primary,” the primaries themselves, and the general election. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

96 " American politicians now treat their rivals as enemies, intimidate the free press, and threaten to reject the results of elections. They try to weaken the institutional buffers of our democracy, including the courts, intelligence services, and ethics offices. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

97 " The final warning sign is a readiness to curtail the civil liberties of rivals and critics. One thing that separates contemporary autocrats from democratic leaders is their intolerance of criticism, and their readiness to use their power to punish those—in the opposition, media, or civil society—who criticize them. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

98 " At a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, for example, he attacked Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, declaring, “If I become president, oh, do they have problems. They are going to have such problems. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

99 " I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money….So that when the New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace—or when the Washington Post…writes a hit piece, we can sue them…. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

100 " The primary process had failed in its gatekeeping role and allowed a man unfit for office to run as a mainstream party candidate. "

― Steven Levitsky , How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future