The controversial quote: “The people get the government they deserve”

Well, I don’t know who actually said this. And no one seems to be sure of the source. You can google the whole sentence and try looking for answer and get over 28000 findings. I looked through less than 50 of them and found some different interesting references.

[1]In a Democracy, the people get the government they deserve - Alexis de Tocqueville

[2]If the citizenry do not hold their officials to standards, then any government gets our of hand. So the question goes beyond taxation, and becomes how can we ever have a sound government, and the answer is by a principled populace. As has been said by Jefferson and Tocqueville, people get the government they deserve.

[3]What worries me though is the following quotation penned by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar: "Cassius suggests that the people get the government they deserve…". This can be a good thing, if (and it’s a big “if”) the people do their homework and vote based on facts, not on rumor or innuendo.

[4]In a Democracy, The People Get the Government They Deserve. - Hunter S. Thompson

So, this controversial saying was the words of either Alexis de Tocqueville or Jefferson or Shakespeare or Hunter S. Thompson. Anyway, it really doesn’t matter. You can see there are tens of thousands of people who do not agree with the saying. But, you can also see there are tens of thousands of people who agree the saying if we add the words “In a democracy” in front. I am one of the latter to be frank.

And I believe whoever said this would not have said this sentence alone. It could be part of the play, part of the novel, or part of the speech. At that time, they might specifically want to mean that specific group of people, hence; “The People”. Therefore, the saying could not be applied to general population all over the world. As a result of cutting or extracting original words, this controversy had happened.

Anyway, I wrote this simply because I want to let those who read my blog know that the saying is not complete and controversial. In addition, this is to clarify this saying is not “theory” and should not apply to general public. However, there are people who simply like this quote. There will also be many who disagree with me.

To them, I agree to disagree. After all, I believe in unity in diversity. We just have to live in harmony and be united. So, just agree to disagree.. please….

Note: Dedicated to my friends who stand on different sides of the fence regarding the matter as well as those who might be interested and those who have no time to do research. May my research help you guys at least a bit.

*Peace*