People ask me about what sacrifices I've made. I always answer: I've made no sacrifices, I've made choices.
Aung San Suu KyiRead
All military regimes use security as the reason why they should remain in power. It's nothing original.
Interpretation
Military regimes often justify their power by claiming to provide security.
Aung San Suu Kyi's quote highlights a common tactic used by authoritarian regimes: they assert that their continuation in power is necessary for the security and stability of the nation. This reasoning is often a pretext for suppressing dissent and maintaining control, suggesting that the narrative around security is not unique to any one government but a widespread strategy among military leaders.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of democracy, one might quote Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the dangers of military rule.
People ask me about what sacrifices I've made. I always answer: I've made no sacrifices, I've made choices.
The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations.
This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I'm too old to change now.
My top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.
If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.
Where there is no justice there can be no secure peace.
The president of the United States is not a king. You know? Barack Obama was elected by the American people.
In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
It is said that every people has the Government it deserves. It is more to the point that every Government has the electorate it deserves; for the orator of the front bench can edify or debauch an ignorant electorate at will.
The two most frightening words in Washington are 'bipartisan consensus.' Bipartisan consensus is when my doctor and my lawyer agree with my wife that I need help.
When I wrote 'The West Wing,' the juice behind it was that in popular culture, our leaders in government are generally portrayed as Machiavellian, or as idiots. I thought, well, how about writing about a group of hyper-competent people?
The organized workers of America, free in their industrial life, conscious partners in production, secure in their homes and enjoying a decent standard of living, will prove the finest bulwark against the intrusion of alien doctrines of government.
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