Elmer Eric Schattschneider Quotes

6 Sourced Quotes

People who do not know what government is are not likely to know what democracy is either, for democracy is only what the soft inside of the oyster looks like.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider

Democracy is a competitive political system in which competing leaders and organizations define the alternatives of public policy in such a way that the public can participate in the decision-making process.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider

Government is the most successful idea in the world, but for all its success and importance it is something imperfect. There is no ideal state. After thousands of years it is still a mixture of good and evil.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider

Democracy begins as an act of imagination about people. For this reason democracy is a doctrine of social criticism.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider

I suppose the most important thing I have done in my field is that I have talked longer and harder and more persistently and enthusiastically about political parties than anyone else alive.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider

What is government? From the outside it looks like a security system based on the marriage of land and people, From the inside, it looks like and attempts to create a community. A government is like an oyster, hard on the outside and soft on the inside, and the outside and inside are utterly dependent on each other.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider