Henry Grady Weaver Quote

"The Greeks... labored under the delusion that their democracy was a guarantee of peace and plenty, not realizing that unrestrained majority rule always destroys freedom, puts the minority at the mercy of the mob, and works at cross-purposes to the effective use of human energy and individual initiative."

by:	Henry Grady Weaver (1889-1949) American author, General Motors marketing executive who made the cover of Time in 1938
Source:	"The Mainspring of Human Progress," 1947
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Categories:	Coercion, Collectivism, Democracy, Freedom, Peace, Power, Prosperity, Welfare
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Absolutely; And, he who forgets history will live this one again.  -- Mike, Norwalk      5
Ditto Mike. Every now and again one hits a topic that's been beaten like a dead horse and yet the horse won't stay dead. It's times like these that sometimes make one believe the heck with it I aint dealing with that again today. This is one of those days. Once again, ditto.  -- Anon      7
Mr Weaver said it well. I hope that we don't learn this the hard way. Kudos to Mike and Anon.  -- jim k, austin      6
I hope not, and who thinks democracy is a guarantee for anything? Anything worth having is worth working for. There are NO certainties in life, except Jesus.  -- M. Brown, Florida      6
The desire to rule others is the root of all tyranny, whether by king, committee, or mob.  -- E Archer, NYC      8
Yes, yes, yes. It amazes me, we still don't get it - will we ever?  -- RBESRQ      4
Now Mussoline should have said it like this and you guys would have loved. So the Italians were starting to get to much freedom and Mussolini tried to put a stop to it and that was bad you guys say. Now you are all for getting rid of to much freedom. Sounds like you talk out of both sides. Greek society was and is the cradle of civilization, Rome and rest of us are just copy cats.  -- Waffler, Smith      3 8
I find it difficult to think of ANYTHING "unrestrained" that has a good result ... or is that just me ?  -- Bobble, No. Ferrisburgh, VT      6
A constitution must be strongly adhered to for this to be. Sadly ours no longer is.  -- ccal, Lewisville      6
Power, The Money Changers making merchandise of the Independents Liberty and Freedom at the point of a gun ! Freedom to be immoral is a personal choice as Waffler. Disrespect for our Constitution is the way of democ rule and the regression of a nation that was once set at Liberty. So Waffler thinks the Greeks were the cradle of civilization. Siding with Rome should be a dead giveaway, as one source of socialism. Paying for one's sins is the dupe of weak minds, which our founding fathers pointed out. Leaving behind the trappings of a " State Church " bent on world domination through a democratic process allowed by week minded individuals placed in a position of influence. Some prefer slavery to individual responsibility. I was informed lately by an Independent Corporate executive,( this business based on individual excellence ), they must cut the work force, he went through the parking lot and found all the cars with Obama stickers, and started there ! What a great quote ! History does repeat itself. Over and over and over again ! God's Natural laws do not tolerate immorality for very long. !  -- Ronw13, Yachats Or      3
"Unrestrained majority rule" is a dictatorship. This is why the Founders gave us a Republic-- if we can keep it.  -- AL, DC      2
Plato had a poor opinion of every governmental form except his made up, hand raised, spoon fed, cast/class system which I doubt any one of us would be comfortable living under. I say: doubt. What I do know is, your selection of quotes are very partial to the catch words: individual and minority. These are presented, unless I am misreading your selections, in a light wherein "minority" is presented as the oppressed class and "individual" as the sole harbinger of "truth" which shall set us free. Forgive me; but throughout history (as today) power has been, and is being, held by a "minority" and the mythic "individual" voice echoes across a world largely to no effect; as long as the vast majority has the minimum amount of leisure and purchase power to stay in their comfort zone. Political success has little to do with ideology and more with affording the middling opportunity to attain that imagined comfort and security so dear to the "average" person. The rest is left to TV, Cellphones and, upon reaching a certain age, religion. I'll stop there. Thank you for listening.  -- John Shuttleworth, New York City      1 1
The Greek city of Tyre demonstrated one of the first examples of the shortcomings of democracy — hence the word 'tyranny' from which it gets its root.  The study of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sumerian, etc. civilizations is indeed valuable — especially if we can glean from them what worked and what did not work.  John Adams' Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787 is one of the best studies on the subject.  -- E Archer, NYC      1

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