“What is any political campaign save a concerted effort to turn out a set of politicians who are admittedly bad and put in a set who are thought to be better. The former assumption, I believe is always sound; the latter is just as certainly false. For if experience teaches us anything at all it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.” IfsBelievePoliticalTurnsI BelieveSoundEffortTeachDemocracyHonestPoliticianCampaignsFormerAssumptionLatterUnthinkableBurglarsPolitical CampaignGood Politicians Book:PREJUDICES A SELECTION Source: PREJUDICES A SELECTION
“It's abominable, and it's a disgrace to a great democracy to see what's happened in our country. The main reason for that has been the enormous infusion of high quantities of money to campaigns - governors, Congress, president and the U.S. Senate.” Has BeensCountryReasonPresidentDemocracyHappenedCongressCampaignsEnormousOur CountrySenateQuantityGovernorsDisgraceInfusion Author:Jimmy Carter
“Campaign may invite a certain skepticism about democracy, but it will surely restore your faith in cinema verite.” MayCertainDemocracyCampaignsCinemaInvitesSkepticism Author:A. O. Scott
“In the 2012 election, Obamacare, as it's called, and I'll be more polite - the ACA ...was a major issue in the campaign. I campaigned all over America for two months, everywhere I could. And in every single campaign rally I said, 'We have to repeal and replace Obamacare.' Well, the people spoke. They spoke, much to my dismay, but they spoke. And they reelected the President of the United States.” PeopleWellsSaidTwoStatesRealityAmericaPoliticalPoliticsPresidentCommunityLeadershipJusticeUnitedPartyHistoryUnited StatesDemocracyIssuesHuman NaturePolicyHealthMonthsMajorsEthicsConstitutionElectionStrategyUnityCampaignsIdeologyVotingSpokesPolitePolitical PartiesCivilityObamacareTwo MonthsDismay2012 ElectionAca Author:John McCain
“Putting it as strongly as I can, the failure to give free airtime for our political campaigns endangers our democracy.” GivingI CanPoliticalDemocracyCampaignsPolitical Campaign Author:Walter Cronkite
“It takes money to run political campaigns. This is a cancer growing on the soul of our democracy.” SoulRunningPoliticalDemocracyGrowingCancerCampaignsPolitical Campaign Author:Elizabeth Warren
“The role of campaign contributions in our political system and the role of lobbyists have now reached levels that are quite unhealthy for the operations of our democracy. But the antidote, as in past eras of lobbyist excess, is for more involvement by citizens to build pressure on members of the House and Senate to serve the public interest.” PastPoliticalHouseInterestLevelsRolesDemocracyCitizensMembersPressureCampaignsErasOperationsContributionExcessSenateInvolvementAntidoteUnhealthyPolitical SystemsPublic InterestLobbyistsCampaign Contributions Author:Al Gore
“The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organization and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy.” PeopleActionOrderBlackWhiteDemocracySecurityMassOrganizationMajoritySouthCampaignsEstablishmentBlack And WhiteSouth AfricaDefianceApartheidPeace And Security Author:Nelson Mandela
“We need a growing middle class, not one that has been disappearing for 40 years. We need a vibrant one person-one vote democracy, not one which is dominated by billionaire campaign contributors. It's time for a political revolution. It's time to make our government work for all of us, and not just the 1%.” NeedsYearsPersonsHas BeensGovernmentPoliticalClassDemocracyGrowingMiddleRevolutionVoteDisappearCampaignsMiddle ClassBillionaireContributorsPolitical RevolutionGovernment Work Author:Bernie Sanders
“There are two reforms that we need to restore our democracy. The first is campaign finance. We need to get the corporate money out of the election process. And second, we need to resolve the dysfunction in the environment. Looters are running agencies that are supposed to be protecting us from pollution.” NeedsFirstsTwoRunningProcessDemocracyEnvironmentElectionCampaignsFinanceReformSupposed To BeCorporateAgencyResolvePollutionDysfunctionCampaign FinanceElection Process Author:Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“Some corporations don't want free markets, and they don't want democracy. They want profits. And they use our campaign finance system to loot our commons, to steal from our treasury, and the other shared resources of our community - the air, the water, the public lands, the wildlife, the things that belong to all of us that are held in trust for future generations. Corporations cannot act philanthropically in America.” WantUseAmericaWaterCommunityDemocracyGenerationsAirLandResourcesProfitCampaignsStealingFinanceCorporationsFree MarketFuture GenerationWildlifeOur CommunityTreasuryCampaign FinancePublic Lands Author:Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“There is a reason why these people [from Wall Street] are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country.” PeopleCountryReasonPoliticalViewsDemocracyStreetsHugeWallAmountCongressCampaignsReason WhyWealthyAllowingPolitical SystemsUnderminingContributorsAmerican Democracy Author:Bernie Sanders
“Super PACs and a corrupt campaign finance system are destroying American democracy. We're proud that we have received four million individual contributions, more than any candidate in American history at this point.” IndividualMillionsDemocracyFourProudCampaignsFinanceCandidatesContributionDestroyingAmerican HistoryAmerican DemocracyPacsCampaign Finance Author:Bernie Sanders
“I think that the influence of people with power and money to distort democracy and have their interests served before the rest of the population is the biggest problem. That is caused by two things: campaign finance and the way that's structured, and by the Citizen's United supreme court decision. So those two things are keeping democracy from working right.” PeopleThinkingWayTwoProblemInterestDecisionUnitedDemocracyInfluenceCitizensCourtPopulationCampaignsSupremeFinanceTwo ThingsSupreme CourtCampaign FinanceCourt Decision Author:Shepard Fairey
“I hope March is a guide for today's activists. It took raw courage for young people to volunteer to go to Mississippi in the summer of 1964, and unrelenting faith in the power of democracy to organize such a massive campaign.” PeopleTodayYoungDemocracySummerGuidesCampaignsMarchMassiveActivistOrganizeVolunteerMississippiUnrelenting Author:Andrew Aydin
“[The Democracy Party] did it to Dennis Kucinich.They certainly did it to Bernie, as we saw in the e-mails. They did it to Howard Dean, the "Dean Scream." Jesse Jackson, another kind of PR smear campaign.Meanwhile, the party keeps marching to the right and becomes more corporatist and elitist and imperialist.” KindPartyDemocracySawsCampaignsScreamMailDeanElitistSmear Campaigns Author:Jill Stein
“But rather than trying to understand and rise above them, as leaders should, the [presedential] campaigns have often simply channeled these negative emotions. This has made the substance and tone of much of the discussion not only unpleasant and uninspiring, but the acrimony and divisiveness are not healthy for our democracy.” ShouldTryingMadeEmotionLeaderDemocracyHealthyNegativeCampaignsSubstanceDiscussionToneRise AboveNegative EmotionsDivisivenessUninspiringAcrimony Author:John I. Jenkins
“American democracy is really under attack here [Clinton campaign that was hacked]. And the question is how are we and in particular and how are Democrats going to respond to this. We have to understand this is really, really quite extraordinary. And it would seem to me that the FBI shouldn't be getting rolled by the House Republicans and that's what happened here.” SeemsHouseDemocracyHappenedParticularRepublicanClintonDemocratExtraordinaryCampaignsFbiAmerican DemocracyHacked Author:James Carville
“There is nothing going on and in the meantime we do know that our democracy is under assault by the KGB. To me, that's something we ought to be talking about. That's a relevant issue in this campaign [2016].” KnowsTalkingDemocracyIssuesOughtCampaignsRelevantAssaultKgb Author:James Carville
“The good news is I think there are a lot of young people certainly who were involved in my campaigns, and I think continue to be involved in work not just politically, but through nonprofits and other organizations, that can carry this hard work of democracy forward.” PeopleThinkingHardYoungDemocracyHard WorkInvolvedNewsOrganizationCampaignsGood NewsNonprofits Author:Barack Obama