HANS-HERMANN HOPPE: "How do people rise to the top in a democracy? The answer is: you must be an intelligent bad guy in order to rise to the top"

"How do people rise to the top in a democracy? The answer is: you must be an intelligent bad guy in order to rise to the top"
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Democracy is the guarantee that only bad people will rise to the top. And the more so, the larger the country is" pic.twitter.com/OsrO16btz2

— Hans-Hermann Hoppe (@HoppeQuotes) June 9, 2026

PHILIP AGEE, CIA AGENT, 1957-68: In the CIA, we didn't give a hoot about democracy

CIA “Democracy doesn’t mean a thing”

“The principle of government by the people, for the people, of the people, that is just silly”

Philip Agee, CIA Agent “In the CIA, we didn't give a hoot about democracy. I mean, it was fine if a government was elected and would cooperate… pic.twitter.com/v9xSEOhZgX

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) April 5, 2025

Philip Agee, CIA agent, 1957-68,

In the CIA, we didn't give a hoot about democracy.  I mean it was fine if a government was elected and would cooperate with us, but if it didn't then democracy didn't mean a thing to us.  And I don't think it means a thing today. The true goal of the US government is control.  And they feel that if the United States did not control the government of Latin America, then somebody else would.  And the principle of government by the people, for the people, of the people, that is just . . . that's just silly.

Inside the Company: CIA Diary, Philip Agee, 1975.  

MARC ANDREESSEN: every form of government always, including America, has really been an oligarchy, it's just a question of who the elite ruling class are, "democracy was never actually a thing"

He's right. And now that he's one of the ruling oligarchs he clearly feels safe enough to admit it. Thinks he and his clan can't be deposed. https://t.co/IJBcYHjpv1

— Polly St George: Documenting Bread & Circuses (@FringeViews) December 13, 2024

The Iron Law of Oligarchy, formulated in 1911, states that,

The Iron Law of Oligarchy is a political theory proposed by Robert Michels, stating that all organizations, regardless of their democratic intentions, will eventually be dominated by a small elite group, making true democracy nearly impossible. This phenomenon occurs due to the bureaucratic structures that develop as organizations grow in size and complexity.

Here are 2 hours of Bari Weiss. 

Within the Critical Social Justice Movement, when they say "We have to protect our democracy," they're actually presupposing that communism is necessary to have in the first place

https://t.co/jhNiAyAolv pic.twitter.com/QIuxB1OfNb

— James Lindsay, now with extra salt (@ConceptualJames) December 27, 2022