--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One of the arguments that authoritarian…" description: "\"“One of the arguments that authoritarian governments use to ward off the call for greater political freedom is to argue that American-style democracy i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/evan-osnos-19078_amendment_one-of-the-arguments-that-authoritarian_2406415.jpg" --- # One of the arguments that authoritarian governments use to… ![“One of the arguments that authoritarian governments use to ward off the call for greater political freedom is to argue that American-style democracy is no guarantee of good policy… Over the years, I’ve grown used to these arguments, and my response has rarely wavered: Sure, we might make dumb…” quote by Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/evan-osnos-19078_amendment_one-of-the-arguments-that-authoritarian_2406415.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/evan-osnos-19078_amendment_one-of-the-arguments-that-authoritarian_2406415.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/evan-osnos-19078_amendment_one-of-the-arguments-that-authoritarian_2406415.jpg) > ““One of the arguments that authoritarian governments use to ward off the call for greater political freedom is to argue that American-style democracy is no guarantee of good policy… Over the years, I’ve grown used to these arguments, and my response has rarely wavered: Sure, we might make dumb choices sometimes, but we will defend, to the end, the right to make choices at all, because we believe that our collective conscience, freely expressed, will eventually lead us in the right direction. When it comes to guns, it is getting harder to muster that argument abroad. Every new shooting, every new failure of will and citizenship, slashes another hole in our credibility as a way of life.”” [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author defends democratic choice despite its flaws, arguing that collective conscience will guide better outcomes, even as gun debates erode trust. **In simple terms:** Democracy is imperfect but essential for progress. Key Takeaway Defend the right to choose. Themes politics democracy freedom trust gun control Mood critical hopeful Type analytical persuasive When to use this quote - elections - policy debates - community meetings - media commentary Key Concepts collective conscience policy failure public discourse Questions to Reflect On - What can restore credibility in democratic institutions? - How do we balance safety with freedom? A Different Perspective Arguments can be dismissed when trust erodes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amendment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amendment/) [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Argue American](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argue-american-6043626/) [Argument Abroad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument-abroad-6043625/) [Arguments Authoritarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arguments-authoritarian-6043623/) [Authoritarianism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authoritarianism/) [Choices Defend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices-defend-6043624/) [Credibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credibility/) [Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy/) [Freedom Argue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-argue-4314526/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Guns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guns/) [Policy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/policy/) [Political freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-freedom/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Right direction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-direction/) [Shootings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shootings/) [United states of america](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united-states-of-america/) [Way of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-of-life/) ## Related quotes > [The enemies of freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ralph-inge/the-enemies-of-freedom-do-not-argue-they-shout-and-they-shoot/) [William Ralph Inge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ralph-inge/) > [“It is the state of the heart within us that determines the nature of the triggers we will pull outside of us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/it-is-the-state-of-the-heart-within-us-that-determines-the-nature-of/) [Craig D. 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The first one I heard about was in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brooks-brown/by-the-end-of-my-junior-year-school-shootings-were-making-their-way/) [Brooks Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brooks-brown/) > [What keeps me up at night is our nation's continued and burgeoning lack of rationality in response to mass shootings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-g-tremblay/what-keeps-me-up-at-night-is-our-nation-s-continued-and-burgeoning/) [Paul G. Tremblay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-g-tremblay/) > [How many more school shootings do we need before we start talking about this as a social problem, and not merely a random collection…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackson-katz/how-many-more-school-shootings-do-we-need-before-we-start-talking/) [Jackson Katz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackson-katz/) > [“Of the four worst K-12 school shootings in history, three have occurred in Europe. Germany was host to two of these—one in 2002 at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-lott-jr/of-the-four-worst-k-12-school-shootings-in-history-three-have/) [John R. Lott Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-lott-jr/) > [I never expected there to be so many mass shootings connected to 8chan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fredrick-brennan/i-never-expected-there-to-be-so-many-mass-shootings-connected-to-8chan/) [Fredrick Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fredrick-brennan/) > [“When a person denies his conscience for too long, it can become seared. That person becomes susceptible to receiving and accepting all sorts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hon/when-a-person-denies-his-conscience-for-too-long-it-can-become-seared/) [Henry Hon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hon/) > [The United States does not have a monopoly on crazy people. It's not the only country that has psychosis. And yet we kill each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/the-united-states-does-not-have-a-monopoly-on-crazy-people-it-s-not/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [“None of these shootings, nor others that the president has mentioned, would have been stopped if background checks on private transfers had been required.4…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-lott-jr/none-of-these-shootings-nor-others-that-the-president-has-mentioned/) [John R. Lott Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-lott-jr/) > [“Violence isn't a Democrat or Republican problem. It's an American problem, requiring an American solution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dashanne-stokes/violence-isn-t-a-democrat-or-republican-problem-it-s-an-american/) [DaShanne Stokes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dashanne-stokes/) ## More by Evan Osnos > [“China reminds me most of America at its own moment of transformation—the period that Mark Twain and Charles Warner named the Gilded Age, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/china-reminds-me-most-of-america-at-its-own-moment-of-transformation/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“The greatest difference between Internet dating in America and in China was conceptual: in America, it had the power to expand your universe of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/the-greatest-difference-between-internet-dating-in-america-and-in/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“I look forward to the day when our country will be a land of free expression: a country where the words of each citizen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/i-look-forward-to-the-day-when-our-country-will-be-a-land-of-free/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“The difference in life expectancy and income between China’s wealthiest cities and its poorest provinces is the difference between New York and Ghana.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/the-difference-in-life-expectancy-and-income-between-china-s/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“With so many thinkers “spending so much energy fighting over words and ink, we have forgotten to criticize government authority; we have forgotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/with-so-many-thinkers-spending-so-much-energy-fighting-over-words-and/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“Liang Qichao, one of China’s leading reformers of the early twentieth century, hailed the importance of the individual in national development, but renounced that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/liang-qichao-one-of-china-s-leading-reformers-of-the-early-twentieth/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“shot of adrenaline that awakens us from our apathy,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/shot-of-adrenaline-that-awakens-us-from-our-apathy/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“Confucius, the philosopher and politician who was born in the sixth century B.C.E. He acquired a place in Chinese history akin to that of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/confucius-the-philosopher-and-politician-who-was-born-in-the-sixth/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“We spoke in Chinese, but when he was surprised, he’d say, “Oh, my Lady Gaga!,” an English expression he’d picked up at school.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/we-spoke-in-chinese-but-when-he-was-surprised-he-d-say-oh-my-lady/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“Sandel, and the political philosophy he taught, offered Chinese young people a vocabulary that they found useful and challenging but not subversive, a framework…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/sandel-and-the-political-philosophy-he-taught-offered-chinese-young/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [Orville Schell and John Delury have delivered a brilliantly original and essential book: the road map to China’s quest for national salvation... Vivid, literate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/orville-schell-and-john-delury-have-delivered-a-brilliantly-original/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“Mao sanctified propaganda and censorship as essential parts of Thought Work, and he relied on them to reframe the Long March as a strategic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/mao-sanctified-propaganda-and-censorship-as-essential-parts-of/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [If you go back and you look at the presidency over the course of history, presidents tend to do what they campaigned on. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/if-you-go-back-and-you-look-at-the-presidency-over-the-course-of/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [“In a series of experiments, they found that Chinese investors overwhelmingly described themselves as more cautious than Americans. But when they were tested—with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/in-a-series-of-experiments-they-found-that-chinese-investors/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [Often Americans have heard Donald Trump be very hard on China. But that's not how it's heard over there. In China, his message is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/often-americans-have-heard-donald-trump-be-very-hard-on-china-but/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) [Explore all 33 Evan Osnos quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) ## More Amendment quotes > [There are a lot of people who want to retain the Eighth Amendment - I don't agree with that view myself - there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-varadkar/there-are-a-lot-of-people-who-want-to-retain-the-eighth-amendment-i/) [Leo Varadkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-varadkar/) > [“Let's just make this easy. 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Interestingly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-behr/people-who-have-attended-concealed-carry-classes-and-those-already/) [Gary Behr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-behr/) [Browse all 2,041 Amendment quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amendment/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“One of the arguments that authoritarian governments use to ward off the call for greater political freedom is to argue that American-style democracy is no guarantee of good policy… Over the years, I’ve grown used to these arguments, and my response has rarely wavered: Sure, we might make dumb choices sometimes, but we will defend, to the end, the right to make choices at all, because we believe that our collective conscience, freely expressed, will eventually lead us in the right direction. When it comes to guns, it is getting harder to muster that argument abroad. 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