Gore Vidal - George Lucas - John Wayne & The Alamo 1960 - Woody Allen & Bananas 1971 - Simon Schama TV - Charles Darwin - Mary Chestnut - Samuel Johnson - Niccolo Machiavelli - Evo Morales - Frank Lloyd Wright - Cicero - Alexis de Tocqueville - Amanda Vickery TV - Christopher Hitchens - Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire 2006 - Roundhead or Cavalier: Which One Are You? TV -
We should stop going around babbling about how we’re the greatest democracy on earth, when we’re not even a democracy. We are a sort of militarised republic. The founding fathers hated two things, one was monarchy and the other was democracy, they gave us a constitution that saw to it we will have neither. I don’t know how wise they were. Gore Vidal, interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2001
All democracies turn into dictatorships – but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it’s Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea ... That’s the issue that I’ve been exploring: how did the Republic turn into the Empire ... and how does a Democracy become a Dictatorship? George Lucas
Republic: I like the sound of the word. Means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, whatever they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat, the same tightness a man gets when his baby takes the first step, his first baby shaves, makes his first sound as a man. John Wayne monologue The Alamo 1960 starring John Wayne & Richard Widmark & Laurence Harvey & Frankie Avalon & Patrick Wayne & Linda Cristal & Joan O’Brien & Chill Wills & John Calleia & Ken Curtis et al, director John Wayne
Hear me. I am your new president. From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under sixteen years old are now sixteen years old. Bananas 1971 starring Woody Allen & Louise Lasser & Carlos Montalban & Natividad Abascal & Jacobo Morales & Miguel Angel & David Ortiz & Rene Enriquez & Jack Axelrod & Howard Cosell & Roger Grimsby & Don Dunphy & Charlotte Rae et al, director Woody Allen, new president
The Americans won’t recognise us because they think we’re communists. The communists won’t recognise us because they think we’re American puppets. The one person in the world who recognises us was arrested yesterday on a morals charge. ibid. Woody as new president
What kind of a republic was it supposed to be? Simon Schama, A History of Britain s2e2: Revolutions, BBC 200
A republic cannot succeed, till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle p165, 1839
Republics everybody join; everybody putting their mouths in. Nothing sacred. All confusion and babble. Republics can’t carry on war. Hurrah for a strong one-man government. Mary Chestnut
An acrimonious and surly republican. Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets, re Milton
A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example. Niccolo Machiavelli
The new republic should be based on diversity, respect and equal rights for all. Evo Morales
Toleration and liberty are the foundations of a great republic. Frank Lloyd Wright
In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power. Marcus Tullius Cicero
When a monarchy gradually transforms itself into a republic, the executive power there preserves titles, honours, respect, and even money long after it has lost the reality of power. The English, having cut off the head of one of their kings and chased another off the throne, still go on their knees to address the successors of those princes. On the other hand, when a republic falls under one man’s yoke, the ruler’s demeanour remains simple, unaffected, and modest, as if he had not already been raised above everybody. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
A petition: these women were Levellers, a radical political movement that argued the new Republic of England should be democratic. Vickery, Suffragettes: Forever! The Story of Women and Power ***** BBC 2015
Many theocracies, from medieval Rome to modern Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, have managed to be spiritual police states and banana republics at the same time. Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great p213
Rome’s emperors: sometimes brilliant, sometimes mad. All of them powerful. But Rome wasn’t always ruled by these dictators. Once it was a largely democratic society; its leaders were elected and no-one could hold too much power. They called it the Republic and it lasted for five hundred years. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire III: Revolution, BBC 2006
An English republic was established. Roundhead or Cavalier: Which One Are You? BBC 2012