Democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Abraham Lincoln
Democracy has two sides. On one hand it is a privilege: It is government of the people for the people. On the other hand it comes with an obligation: It is government by the people.

In a democracy we, the citizens, are ultimately responsible ourselves for the quality of our democratic policy making systems and the way we manage our countries and the earth.

The most important office in a state is the office of the citizen.

Quote needed, a US Senator? – The quote supports the statement of Lincoln: Democracy without citizens taking responsibility cannot work.

‘When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.’

Edmund Burke
Democratic nations must aim to remain strong and support more countries in joining them, especially those in their immediate environment. If democratic nations collapse, who is to defend human freedom?

…not only bureaucratic socialism, but also ultra-liberal capitalism are in need of profound democratic reform – their own perestroika……
Mikhail Gorbachev, The Berlin wall had to fall, but today’s world is no fairer, The Guardian, 30 October 2009

No system works without control, no power plant, no corporation, no political system.

Cf. for example Chapter: The Nature of Systems Thinking, in Checkland, Peter and Scholes, Jim, Soft Systems Methodology in Action, John Wiley and Sons, Reprinted 1991 or Baustein 6: Lenkung (Element 6: Control), in Anleitung zum ganzheitlichen Denken und Handeln, (Introduction to Interconnected Thinking and Action), Hans Ulrich and Gilbert Probst, Haupt, Berne, 1991