Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
This quote critiques the democratic process by suggesting election does not prevent authoritarian outcomes.
In plain terms
Being elected doesn't stop someone from being bad.
What can you take from it?
Voting doesn't guarantee good leadership.

Where it applies

  • Political debate
  • Critiquing leaders

Putting it to work

  • Analyzing political systems
  • Civic education

Questions to consider

  • What makes a leader legitimate?
  • How do we prevent tyranny?

Another view

It oversimplifies complex historical contexts.

More from Kurt Vonnegut

  1. Well, I just want to say that George W. Bush is the syphilis president.

    Permalink to quote #17
  2. I don't think there would be many jokes, if there weren't constant frustration and fear and so forth. It's a response to bad troubles like crime.

    Permalink to quote #19
  3. If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC

    Permalink to quote #16

Related quotes

  1. Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was …

    Robert F. KennedyRobert F. Kennedy quote #9
  2. The other day, someone told me the difference between a democracy and a people's democracy. It's the same difference between a jacket and a straitjacket.

    Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan quote #88
  3. Having fought most of my life against apartheid - and of course my parents were imprisoned during the struggle - I am thrilled by the way South Africa has deve…

    Peter HainPeter Hain quote #1