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We love your adherence to democratic principles and to the democratic process. George H W Bush, toast to Ferdinand Marcos
World domination – same old dream. Dr No 1962 starring Sean Connery & Ursula Andress & Jack Lord & Joseph Wiseman & Bernard Lee & Anthony Dawson & John Kitzmiller & Zena Marshall & Eunice Gayson & Louis Maxwell & Peter Burtonn et al, director Terence Young James
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty. Thomas Jefferson
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own. Thomas Jefferson
Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism. Thomas Jefferson
On 1st day of January in the year of our Lord 1863 all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of the state the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, henceforth and forever free. Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation
Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Abraham Lincoln, speech Edwardsville 11th September 1858
Despots themselves do not deny that freedom is excellent; only they desire it for themselves alone, and they maintain that everyone else is altogether unworthy of it. Alexis de Tocqueville, L’Ancient Regime
So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannise will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious or otherwise, to put shackles on sleeping men. Voltaire
The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratic council, an oligarchical junta, and a single emperor. Equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody, and in every respect diabolical. John Adams, The Political Writings of John Adams xxi
Close alliances with despots are never safe for free states. Demosthenes
Despotism accomplishes great things illegally; liberty doesn’t even go to the trouble of accomplishing small things legally. Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850
In friendship false, implacable in hate:
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state. John Dryden, 1631-1700, Absalom and Achitophel
The more contracted that power is, the more easily it is destroyed. A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone. Samuel Johnson
Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards. Aeschines
Democracy passes into despotism. (Despotism & Democracy) Plato
The more complete the despotism, the more smoothly all things move on the surface. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance. Thomas Paine
Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. Daniel Webster
Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man. Joseph de Maistre
Despotism is a long crime. Victor Hugo
Small tyrants, threatened by big, sincerely believe they love liberty. W H Auden
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. George Washington
If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep. G K Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
Man does not necessarily begin with despotism because he is barbarous, but very often finds his way to despotism because he is civilised. He finds it because he is experienced; or, what is often much the same thing, because he is exhausted. ibid.
There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the body. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The second is called the Pope. The third is called the People. Oscar Wilde
Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. Oscar Wilde
The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement. John Stuart Mill
Even despotism does not produce its worst effects, so long as individuality exists under it; and whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called, and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever. George Orwell, 1984
Francisco Franco, absolute ruler over Spain, was one of the most enigmatic dictators in European history. Even today the country still bears the scars of his reign. He seized power in a bloody civil war and ruled the country with an iron hand for forty years. A despot not even his trusted followers could really see through. The Truth About Franco: Spain’s Forgotten Dictator I: The Rise to Power, PBS 2019
His dominant wife – she would survive the despot. ibid.
A shy boy, Francisco was just an average pupil. ibid.
In Catalonia and the Basque country in particular calls for independence grew louder. ibid.
1932: The army launched an attempted coup but it failed. ibid.
‘He started making preparations for a future civil war.’ ibid. Paul Preston, historian and biographer
The rebels made Franco their generalissimo. ibid.
Throughout the country Franco’s nationalist rebels were openly supported by the old upper class. ibid.
The rebels destroyed everything in their path. ibid.
Guernica: The bridge remained intact; 80% of the buildings had been destroyed. ibid.
It was not until July 1938 that the decisive battle took place … A river in south-west Catalonia … one of the most brutal of the entire war. ibid.
His reign of terror was only just beginning. ibid.
‘He says the most mindbogglingly stupid things you can imagine; and yet at the same time he’s quite cunning.’ The Truth About Franco: Spain’s Forgotten Dictator II: The New Regime, Paul Preston
April 1939: Three years of bloody civil war have claimed half a million lives and turned Spain into a different country. ibid.
Spain split into winners and losers … ‘We’re talking about total famine.’ ibid. historian
In return for that assistance, Franco was now supplying Germany with raw materials and food. ibid.
According to a secret protocol Franco only offered a vague prospect of Spain entering the War. ibid.
The Spanish troops left for Russia. The Blue Division took part on the attack on Leningrad. ibid.