“I was well on the way to forming my present attitude toward politics as it is practiced in the United States; it is a beautiful fraud that has been imposed on the people for years, whose practitioners exchange gelded promises for the most valuable thing their victims own: their votes. And who benefits the most? The lawyers.” PeopleWayYearsWellsHas BeensStatesBeautifulUnitedAttitudeUnited StatesPromiseBenefitsVoteVictimValuableLawyerFraudValuable Things Author:Shirley Chisholm
“The fallacy is that politicians don't really do much about social issues. They just demonize their opponents as elitists and reap the benefit. It's a stupid way to do politics. Economic issues can more often be addressed concretely, and it would seem logical for people to vote their interests in this area.” PeopleWaySeemsSocialInterestIssuesEconomicStupidPoliticianBenefitsAreasVoteOpponentsLogicalSocial IssuesReapFallacyOften IsElitistEconomic Issues Author:Timothy Noah
“The capitalist workplace is one of the most profoundly undemocratic institutions on the face of the Earth. Workers have no say over decisions affecting them. If workers sat on the board of directors of democratically operated self-managed enterprises, they wouldn't vote for the wildly unequal distribution of profits to benefit a few and for cutbacks for the many.” IfsSelfEarthFacesDecisionDirectorsBenefitsCapitalismEconomicsVoteManagementInstitutionsWorkersProfitInequalityBoardsSatEnterpriseVotingCapitalistWorkplaceDistributionBoard Of DirectorsCutbacks Author:Richard D. Wolff
“Our middle class majority, deeply in personal debt, elects political leaders who increase our benefits. Then we vote them out because we dislike the soaring national debt.” PoliticalLeaderClassMiddleBenefitsVoteIncreaseMajorityDebtMiddle ClassDislikeSoarPolitical LeadersNational Debt Author:Oliver DeMille
“I am always suspicious of the formulation that "politics" has prevented a great idea from being enacted by government. Politics IS government, in a democratic society. It's a challenge for school reformers, like reformers in any realm, to build a popular constituency for their work. If the people it's supposed to benefit vote against it, that tells me that the person pushing reform lacks political skill. And political skill is a good thing.” PeopleIfsPersonsIdeasGovernmentSchoolPoliticalChallengesSkillsBenefitsVoteGood ThingsDemocraticReformRealmsPushingSuspiciousGreat IdeaDemocratic SocietyReformersGovernment Politics Author:Nicholas Lemann
“Political systems must love poverty-they produce so much of it. Poor people make easier targets for a demagogue. No Mao or even Jiang Zemin is likely to arise on the New York Stock Exchange floor. And politicians in democracies benefit from destitution, too. The US has had a broad range of poverty programs for 30 years. Those programs have failed. Millions of people are still poor. And those people vote for politicians who favor keeping the poverty programs in place. There's a conspiracy theory in there somewhere.” PeopleYearsStillsPoliticalPoorPovertyMillionsDemocracyNew YorkProduceTheoryPoliticianEasierBenefitsProgramVoteFavorsAriseRangeTargetBroadsConspiracyPoor PeoplePolitical SystemsConspiracy TheoryMaoStock ExchangeNew York StockNew York Stock Exchange Book:Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics Source: Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics
“The president's attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it a labor union that delivers money and votes for him.... Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and the abuse of power.” GivingPoliticalPresidentBenefitsLaborVoteAbuseUnionsCorruptionShakingAbuse Of PowerDonorsLabor UnionRecycledLenders Author:Cliff Asness
“When Congress votes for all sorts of benefits, without voting for enough taxes to pay for them, they get the support of those who have been promised the benefits, without getting grief from the taxpayers. It's strictly win-win as far as the welfare-state politicians are concerned. But it is strictly lose-lose, big-time, for the country, as deficits skyrocket.” Has BeensCountryStatesEnoughBigsWinningLosesGriefPaySupportPoliticianTaxesBenefitsConcernedVoteCongressWelfareVotingDeficitTaxpayersWelfare StateWin Win Author:Thomas Sowell
“For decades now, the Democrats have had a good gig buying the votes of government workers with outrageous salaries, benefits and work rules - and then sticking productive earners with the bill. But, now, we're out of money.” GovernmentBenefitsVoteBillsDemocratWorkersDecadesBuyingProductiveSalaryGigsOutrageousGovernment Workers Author:Ann Coulter
“The jobs that have come back have been extremely insecure low-wage benefit poor temporary jobs. Young people are screwed. They don't have a way to pay off their debt. And when they discover that they could come out and vote Green to cancel that debt, that I am the one candidate who will bail out the students like we bailed out the crooks on Wall Street, then it becomes an irresistible motivation to actually come out and vote Green.” PeopleWayHas BeensJobsYoungMotivationPoorPayStreetsStudentsWallBenefitsLowsVoteGreenDebtCandidatesTemporaryInsecureIrresistibleCrooksBail Author:Jill Stein
“The primary source of waste in government is that legislators are often under heavy pressure to vote for projects that will benefit their campaign contributors, even when those projects fail a simple cost-benefit test. But with the Supreme Court showing little interest in permitting tighter rules on campaign contributions in recent years, there is little reason to be optimistic that we'll start curbing this kind of waste any time soon.” YearsKindLittlesReasonGovernmentInterestSimpleFailingSourceCostWasteBenefitsProjectsTestsVotePressureCourtHeavyCampaignsSupremeOptimisticPrimariesContributionSupreme CourtLegislatorsBeing OptimisticContributorsPrimary SourceCampaign Contributions Author:Robert H. Frank
“For the rest of their lives, [black men] can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits. So many of the old forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind during the Jim Crow era are suddenly legal again once you've been branded a felon.” MenFormLeftBlackBehindsBenefitsVoteAccessDiscriminationEmploymentErasDeniedHousingLeft BehindJuryCrowExcludedRight To VoteJim CrowBrandedFelonsAccess To Education Author:Michelle Alexander
“Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination - employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service - are suddenly legal.” WayTodayFormOpportunityBenefitsVoteEducationalCriminalsDiscriminationEmploymentAfrican AmericanDenialStampsHousingJuryExclusionRight To VoteFood StampsFelonsEmployment Discrimination Author:Michelle Alexander
“All politicians are going to mask to some degree in order to present themselves in away they think will get them votes. What's different in Obama's case is that he's wearing a racial mask, this 'bargainer's' mask, and I think very effectively, whereby he gives whites the benefit of the doubt. He's essentially saying, 'I am going to presume you are not racist, if you won't hold my race against me.' So, his mask is a distinctly racial one.” IfsThinkingGivingDifferentOrderRaceCasesDoubtPoliticianDegreesBenefitsVoteMaskRacistBenefit Of The Doubt Author:Shelby Steele
“Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasure. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefit from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship, and then a monarchy.” MomentsGovernmentFormPoliticsResultsDemocracyPolicyBenefitsVoteMajorityTreasureSocialismPermanentCandidatesThat MomentVotersCollapseDictatorshipMonarchyForms Of GovernmentDemocracies HaveTreasuryVoting And DemocracyFiscal PolicyLargesse Author:Alexander Fraser Tytler