Friday, November 11, 2011

Democracy and Churchill

Winston S. ChurchillEight squared years ago today, Winston Churchill uttered his famous words on democracy as least bad.

Posted by J.K. Baltzersen at 8:41 PM

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let us not forget what I learned from you, Mr. Baltzersen, which I have found quite useful to remember, that he said it not of American democracy, but of the English form, and that in a defense of the rights of the hereditary House of Lords.

November 12, 2011 at 6:21 PM
J.K. Baltzersen said...

Yes, indeed, Mr. Starrett, a fact which is also pointed out in the four year old blog post I link to.

I find it fascinating how people use this quote -- directly or indirectly -- to defend democracy. All they need to say is that the alternatives are worse, and that settles it. I talked to someone as recently as today who did just that. He didn't quote Churchill, but he used the typical rationale. So he used the quote indirectly.

What is also fascinating is that the same people tend to be the ones who accuse us who long for government systems more usual in the past for living in the past.

Isn't it grand? They use the quote of a man who died almost half a century ago, a quote that is more than sixty years old, as a rationale for the debate being decided once and for all. And not an unconsiderable portion of the same people accuse others of living in the past.

November 12, 2011 at 9:50 PM

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