babbage's Journal: Stoppardian democracy

Ooh, good line, must share:

"It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting."
--Tom Stoppard

Not at all original.

[Mr. Neutron]

"It matters not who casts the vote, it only matters who counts the vote." - Joseph Stalin

Re:Not at all original.

[babbage]

Originality is overrated anyway. To me it matters more not necessarily who said something first, but who says it best. Not that the Stalin quote is bad, but I think the Stoppard quote is nice & succinct as well, getting at the heart of the nature of the process itself. Stalin's quote feels less philosophical to me, more brutal -- but then, this is a Stalin quote we're talking about, so that makes sense...