#2,981

The voter does not even vote for what he wants; he only votes for what he thinks he wants.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 476

#2,943

There exist two interpretations of the popular vote, one democratic, the other liberal.
According to the democratic interpretation what the majority resolves upon is true; according to the liberal interpretation the majority merely chooses one option.
A dogmatic and absolutist interpretation, the one; a skeptical and discreet interpretation, the other.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 470

#2,932

After having been, in the last century, the instrument of political radicalism, universal suffrage is becoming, as Tocqueville foresaw, a conservative mechanism.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 468

#2,746

When those elected in a popular election do not belong to the lowest intellectual, moral, social strata of the nation, we can be sure that clandestine anti-democratic mechanisms have interfered with the normal outcome of the vote.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 441

#2,728

Among those elected by popular suffrage only the imbeciles are respectable, because the intelligent man had to lie in order to be elected.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 438

#2,323

The democratic ruler cannot adopt a solution as long as he does not receive the enthusiastic support of people who will never understand the problem.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 376

#2,285

We enemies of universal suffrage never cease to be surprised by the enthusiasm aroused by the election of a handful of incapable men by a heap of incompetent men.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 371

#2,050

Popular suffrage is less absurd today than yesterday: not because the majorities are more cultured, but because the minorities are less so.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 332

#1,500

The number of votes by which a ruler is elected is not a measure of his legitimacy but his mediocrity.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 252

#1,491

Parliaments elected by means of universal suffrage first lose their moral prestige and then their political importance.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 251

#1,322

Universal suffrage in the end does not recognize any of the individual’s rights except the “right” to be alternately oppressor or oppressed.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 227

#1,014

To find oneself at the mercy of the people’s whims, thanks to universal suffrage, is what liberalism calls the guarantee of freedom.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 182