“I think about people and events in terms of archetypes a lot.” PeopleThinkingTermEventsArchetype Author:Zephyr Teachout
“People respond to political characters in archetypal ways. A fun game is to think of a politician and ask, "Which god is that? Are they like Aries? Are they like Athena?"” PeopleThinkingWayCharacterPoliticalAsksGamesFunPoliticianAthenaAries Author:Zephyr Teachout
“I think part of the reason the Tea Party has resonated is that people feel disempowered. The Tea Party says, "You are out of power because of big government." Then some Democrats tend to respond by saying, "No, you're wrong, you're not out of power." It's a sense that doesn't resonate with people's lived experience.” PeopleThinkingFeelsReasonBigsGovernmentPartyDemocratTeaSaying NoTea PartyBig Government Author:Zephyr Teachout
“Oftentimes people get it wrong when they say we need to educate voters first and then give them power. I tend to favor giving them power first.” PeopleNeedsGivingFirstsFavorsVotersEducate Author:Zephyr Teachout
“Because jurors have an extraordinary amount of power over the situation and of the people and the story in front of them, they tend to pay pretty intense attention to what's happening.” PeopleStoriesPayAttentionSituationFrontsAmountHappeningsExtraordinaryIntenseJurors Author:Zephyr Teachout
“I think that most people have deeply creative sensibilities.” PeopleThinkingCreativeSensibility Author:Zephyr Teachout
“I think the reason you see so many people dropping out of politics is because there's an anti-poetic strain in modern political discourse.” PeopleThinkingReasonPoliticalModernPoeticDiscourseStrainDroppingPolitical DiscourseDropping Out Author:Zephyr Teachout
“Having more candidates come with a creative and artistic sensibility would actually bring more people out to vote.” PeopleCreativeVoteArtisticCandidatesSensibility Author:Zephyr Teachout
“I think a lot of the reason people are attracted to the Keystone pipeline is because at least we're doing something. There's a fear that society will collapse if it's not acting. To contrast those actions with other actions is important in making it feel plausible. Maybe we must have the size of the dream meet the size of the threat.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsImportantReasonDreamActionActingThreatSizeContrastCollapsePlausiblePipelineKeystonesKeystone Pipeline Author:Zephyr Teachout
“Things poll well, but people don't believe that politicians are telling the truth. Politicians might mention renewable energy, and the public will think, "That sounds good, but I don't believe they're going to do everything they can to build those towers."” PeopleThinkingBelieveWellsMightEnergySoundPoliticianDon't BelieveTelling The TruthTowersPollsRenewable Energy Author:Zephyr Teachout
“People think that the politician is just part of a system, and whether they're lying or not doesn't matter.” PeopleThinkingMatterLyingPolitician Author:Zephyr Teachout
“A lot of politics plays at the level of myth, and if you understand that, then you feel like you have access to the secret language of politics. People respond to political characters in archetypal ways. A fun game is to think of a politician and ask, "Which god is that? Are they like Aries? Are they like Athena?".” PeopleThinkingCharacterPoliticalLanguageFunSecretLike YouPoliticianMythAthenaAries Author:Zephyr Teachout
“If those people in power never made any mistakes, we'd be done for as a democracy. But people keep making mistakes. History is a series of mistakes.” PeopleDoneMistakeDemocracyMaking Mistakes Author:Zephyr Teachout
“This is what's so hard about our current politics: things poll well, but people don't believe that politicians are telling the truth.” PeopleBelievePoliticianTelling The Truth Author:Zephyr Teachout
