“We have a presidential election coming up. And I think the big problem, of course, is that someone will win.” ThinkingProblemBigsCoursesWinningElectionPresidentialVotingBig ProblemsPresidential Election Author:Barry Crimmins
“The reason so many problems do not get solved in Washington is that solving those problems is not the No. 1 priority: Re-election is.” ReasonProblemPoliticsElectionPriorities Author:Thomas Sowell
“I kept careful record of the impact of religion on the election in my county. The religious issue permeated every meeting I conducted. It influenced Republicans and Democrats alike. Ministers preached politics publicly and churches distributed the most vicious electioneering materials. Practically no one I met escaped the pressure of this overriding problem and both parties were ultimately forced to make their major calculations with the religious question a foremost consideration.” ProblemChurchReligiousPartyIssuesRecordsAtheismMaterialsRepublicanMetsMajorsPressureElectionImpactMeetingsDemocratCarefulMinistersConsiderationViciousCalculationsCounty Author:James A. Michener
“I find focusing clearly on the problem is the first step to seeing a solution. The problem is (a) the insane amount of time spent raising money from (b) a freakishly tiny proportion of America. Basically .05% are the "relevant funders" of campaigns, meaning candidates can't help but be overly sensitive to the views of that tiny fraction relative to the rest of us. IF that's the problem, THEN the solution is to spread the funders out: to increase the range of us who are the relevant funders of elections, through schemes like vouchers or coupons given to every voter.” IfsFirstsHelpingProblemAmericaGivenViewsStepsSeeingAmountSolutionsIncreaseElectionSpreadTinyCampaignsInsaneRangeSensitiveCandidatesProportionVotersRelativeRelevantFirst StepsSchemesFractionsTime SpentRaising MoneyVouchers Author:Lawrence Lessig
“This is the problem with foreign policy - talking about foreign policy in a political context. Politics is binary. People win and lose elections. Legislation passes or doesn't pass. And in foreign policy often what you're doing is nuance and you're trying to prevent something worse from happening. It doesn't translate well into a political environment.” PeopleTryingWellsProblemPoliticalWinningLosesTalkingEnvironmentPolicyHappeningsElectionForeign PolicyTranslateLegislationNuanceWinning And LosingBinaryPolitical Environment Author:David Corn
“God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam [Hussein], which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.” IfsHelpingProblemHumorPoliticalFocusMiddleElectionSolveDeterminedEastStrikesHelp MeAlsMiddle EastSaddamTalibanPolitical HumorI Am Determined Author:George W. Bush
“The Pavlovian view of women voters - plug the words in, and they will respond - sends a chill down my spine because it sounds like an adaptation of something I have written about communication between the sexes: When a woman tells a man about a problem, she doesn't want him to fix it; she just wants him to listen and let her know he understands. But there's a difference between a private conversation and a presidential election, between what we want from our leaders.” KnowsMenWantProblemSexSoundWomenDifferencesViewsLeaderDemocracyWrittenCommunicationConversationElectionPresidentialVotersAdaptationChillSpineWant HimPlugsPresidential Election Author:Deborah Tannen
“Well, "The Washington post" three weeks ago had this investigation and they said that President Obama has now raised more money from Wall Street and the banks for this election cycle than all - than all eight Republicans combined. I don't want to say that, because if that's the truth, that Wall Street already has their man and his name is Barack Obama, then we've got a much bigger problem.” IfsMenWantWellsSaidProblemPoliticalThreeNamesPresidentWeekStreetsWallRepublicanBiggerElectionRaisedEightBarackPostsCyclesPresident ObamaInvestigationMore MoneyThey SaidBigger Problems Author:Michael Moore
“Just because a black man is running the RNC doesn't mean black folks are going to, 'Oh, OK, I will be a Republican.' Just as with the election of President Obama. All the problems and concerns that are very important to African Americans don't get solved overnight.” MenMeanImportantProblemRunningBlackPresidentRepublicanConcernElectionFolksAfrican AmericanPresident Obama Author:Michael Steele
“One thing I definitely experienced up here (New York), that maybe I have to sort of cop to feeling defensive about, is since the election, people in my cohort, who are sensitive to portrayals of people in the movie as classist, have had no problem coming up with those sorts of [middle-American] stereotypes about a phantom real person they can blame for re-electing George Bush.” PeoplePersonsRealFeelingsProblemOne ThingMiddleNew YorkElectionBlameSensitiveCopStereotypeNo ProblemPhantomsReal PersonPortrayal Author:Philip Morrison
“Some countries such as Iran and Syria are using the commotion to distract attention from their own problems with the international community. The Palestinians, who have been deeply divided since their election, have found a common enemy in Denmark that unites them. Extremists and fundamentalists are exploiting the conflict to promote their radical agenda and win new members.” Has BeensCountryProblemFoundWinningCommunityCommonAttentionEnemyConflictMembersElectionInternationalRadicalAgendasIranDividedPalestinianSyriaExtremistInternational CommunityDenmarkCommon Enemy Author:Anders Fogh Rasmussen
“I think that our reliance on dynasty is part of the problem here, because dynasty is inherently undemocratic. It's a very entitled thing to suggest that only one member of one family can save a country of 180 million people. It has to be about people who live in constituencies coming forward to represent them, not the sort of parachuted, elite class that comes in, wins elections and then leaves.” PeopleThinkingCountryProblemWinningClassMillionsMembersElectionElitesEntitledRelianceDynasty Author:Fatima Bhutto
“Finally, it occurs to me that the biggest problem with our elections is that however you vote, you wind up electing a politician.” ProblemWindPoliticianVoteElection Author:Burt Prelutsky
“He [Donald Trump] said in the debate - he said, gosh, I'm being audited for two years. Then he said three years. Then he said maybe five years. Listen, if there's a problem in his taxes, the voters have a right to know, because come September, October, the general election, folks in the media are going to make a heyday about any problems in his taxes.” IfsKnowsYearsSaidTwoProblemThreeFiveMediaTrumpTaxesElectionFolksDebateFive YearsTwo YearsVotersThree YearsSeptemberOctoberGeneral ElectionsHeyday Author:Ted Cruz
“Most people turn things like elections into a fetish and think it's the only way to go: if we just keep giving people the vote, that'll solve all our problems. In the end, that's just a silly, infantile notion.” PeopleIfsThinkingWayGivingEndsProblemTurnsVoteElectionNotionSolveSillyFetishInfantile Author:Pankaj Mishra
“The problem with every American candidate regarding the presidency, I am not talking only about this campaign or elections, but generally, that they say something during the campaign and they do the opposite after the campaign.” ProblemTalkingOppositesElectionCampaignsCandidatesPresidencyNot Talking Author:Bashar al-Assad
“In an election like this one [in 2016], not only are voters dissatisfied, but where the foundations of our economy, our democracy, our ecosystem, and international war and peace are really crumbling and are really at grave risk for failing in many ways, we need desperately to have an honest public conversation about both the track record of where we've been, what are the critical problems we are facing and what it will take to solve them.” WayNeedsWarProblemEconomyDemocracyRecordsFailingRiskHonestConversationElectionFoundationInternationalTrackSolveCriticalGravesVotersEcosystemsDissatisfiedCrumblingTrack Record Author:Jill Stein
“Another phenomenon developing in Kenya is ethnic cleansing - and that's the thing that has made me very sad. Because some people will use the cover of the problems of rigged elections to do things that are unacceptable like ethnic cleansing and displacement of people. It's completely unacceptable.” PeopleMadeUseProblemElectionDevelopingPhenomenonKenyaCleansingVery SadEthnic CleansingRiggedDisplacement Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o
“The Sunni Arabs began to realize that they had made a huge mistake by not voting in the election of 2005 and by not being part of the new Iraq. They had reasons for this: They were effected by the disestablishment of the military and by de-Baathification (the dismantling of Saddam Hussein's party) in winter 2007-2007. They increasingly recognized that their future lay in being part of the solution rather than a continuing part of the problem.” MadeReasonProblemRealizingPartyMistakeMilitaryHugeSolutionsElectionLaysWinterIraqVotingContinuingSaddamHusseinNot Voting Author:David Petraeus
“The problem is that young people are less likely to vote than older people. What results is a situation in which sometimes the elections don't fully reflect the views of the American population.” PeopleSometimesProblemYoungResultsViewsSituationVoteElectionPopulationOlder People Author:Barack Obama
“My concerns through the years increased about the concerns of an independent judiciary and how we maintain it. Certainly in the states. I'm a product of state government in my own state of Arizona. And it seemed to me that the popular election of judges was creating major problems in many states, and we had improved the system in Arizona. And I thought the nation ought to at least rethink how we select our nation's trial judges in the states.” YearsStatesProblemGovernmentNationsMy OwnJudgingProductsOughtCreatingMajorsConcernIndependentElectionTrialsSelectArizonaState GovernmentJudiciaryThrough The YearsMajor ProblemsIndependent Judiciary Author:Sandra Day O'Connor
“Few knew in 2000 that George W. Bush was going to end up with neoconservatives all over the place. Once 9/11 happened, I think it's fair to say that some neocons have had an enormous influence. The whole solution to every problem was to go after Iraq. This had been a neoconservative mantra for ten years. Bush certainly sees himself as having been given an endorsement. He was asked why Donald Rumsfeld,Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Wolfowitz have been promoted, these people who led us into the debacle in Iraq. Bush said there was accountability-it was the election. So there we are.” PeopleThinkingProblemInfluenceSolutionsElectionRice Author:Seymour Hersh
“For 17 years, elections in Russia have followed the same pattern: Nobody criticizes Putin, nobody runs a real election campaign, the whole process takes place quietly over a period of two months. The Kremlin blocks every alternative to Putin. He doesn't want a candidate who will travel through the country and speak loudly about Russia's problems.” RealCountryProblemRunningSpeakElectionBlockCriticize Author:Alexei Navalny
“We have Americans who are voting for someone in whom they have confidence, about whom they have hope, because at after the election 2016 whoever wins is going to have to govern. And when you look at the tenor of this campaign, and when you look at the way people feel about these candidates and how partisan our country is for starters, how does the winner govern? I mean that's the real, real problem.” PeopleMeanRealCountryProblemWinningElectionWinnerVotingHave ConfidenceHaving Hope Author:Frank Bruni
“The problem is that people are pulling farther apart, rather than make an effort to get back together. There have been remarkable moments that united this country. It makes everyone feel relieved. Then because of economic stress, political shifts, we get wrenched apart again. I think it's cyclical. I am an optimist by nature. There are moments, the period after 9/11, the way we responded. The election of Barack Obama. There are moments where the country felt good about being American. I'm waiting for that to happen again.” PeopleThinkingCountryMomentsProblemTogetherPoliticalWaitingEffortEconomicStressElectionBarackRemarkableOptimistRelieved Author:John Lithgow
“I really do think Trump's election comes down to respect. It comes down to being gracious. It comes down to really showing compassion for the problems of the black and Latino communities. And I really hope that Donald Trump takes the ball that's in his court and tries to go after those voters, tries to show some compassion, and really offers them something substantive to get excited about Republican and conservative policy.” ThinkingTryingProblemBlackCommunityCompassionPolicyRepublicanElectionConservativeExcitedLatinoGracious Author:James Vance
“I think Donald Trump successfully tapped into the frustration and anger across the white males and across the working people in general. But when you give them the facts about his policies, that he thinks our wages are too high, that he supports right-to-work, they come back across the bridge. Look, in the last election, we had the same problem with Barack Obama. It was because of race, not sex at that point or gender.” PeopleThinkingGivingProblemSupportPolicyElectionGenderBarackFrustration Author:Richard Trumka
“To say that most recent elections are rigged and all these votes are stolen, that`s like saying we never landed on the moon, frankly. That`s how silly it is. No. I don`t think that`s good for our country. The problem is, it does create doubt in people`s minds. And I worry about 25% of Americans who may say when an election is over, it was stolen.” PeopleThinkingMindCountryProblemWorryDoubtMoonVoteElectionSillyOver It Author:John Kasich
“Election made me more aware, more conscious, more sensitive. Not just of sexism but of discrimination in all areas - class, gender, race. I had realized that there were problems .” ProblemConsciousElectionGenderDiscriminationSensitiveSexism Author:Blake Lively
“I'm a political scientist and I study these things, and I know that economic problems, with the rising unemployment and inflation and low productivity and so forth, were a factor in that election, in that defeat of President Carter.” KnowsProblemPoliticalPresidentStudyEconomicLowsScientistElectionDefeatProductivityFactorsRisingUnemploymentInflationCarterEconomic ProblemsPresident Carter Author:Jeane Kirkpatrick
“We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today's political leaders are still lacking of the vision. They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things. Even today the borders they're seeing the physical borders are very different from the political borders. Because all those powers are so connected, and you cannot even see whose interest in what move.” TryingDifferentProblemTodayMovingPoliticalTermInterestSituationLeaderVisionElectionSellingPopularity Author:Ai Weiwei
“With the arrival of the refugees in 2015, it became impossible to ignore that the period of uninterrupted sunshine that Germany had enjoyed had come to an end. The vast problems of the 21st century are knocking on our door. That is also true of the dramatic changes that we can see globally, for example with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. You can't win people over by saying nothing and biding your time, as Angela Merkel has tried to do. People want leadership - in the best sense of the term.” PeopleProblemWinningTermImpossibleElectionDramaticSunshine21st CenturyRefugee Author:Joschka Fischer
“A big part of my book deals with the caliber of journalism. Our journalism in general is deplorable, and on elections in particular it's very ineffectual. There are a lot of problems, a lot of them having to do with to problems within the professional code of journalism, which defines its role as the regurgitation of what people in power say. Another big problem is that we allow people with money to basically buy what's talked about in campaigns through running TV ads.” PeopleBookProblemRunningElectionJournalismCode Author:Robert Waterman McChesney
“Woodrow Wilson is reported to have told a Princeton colleague, shortly after the 1912 election, "It would be an irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign problems, for all my preparation has been in domestic matters." In the event, Wilson's early months were marked by substantial domestic legislative accomplishment. Unfortunately, after Europe plunged into the Great War in August 1914, Wilson's leadership was uncertain.” WarProblemFateElectionPreparationIronyAccomplishmentGreat War Author:James M Strock
“The problem with elections is that anybody who wants an office badly enough to run for it probably shouldn’t have it. And anybody who does not want an office badly enough to run for it probably shouldn’t have it, either. Government office should be received like a child’s Christmas present, with surprise and delight. Instead it is usually received like a diploma, an anticlimax that never seems worth the struggle to earn it.” WantShouldChildrenDoeEnoughProblemSeemsGovernmentRunningStruggleOfficeElectionSurpriseDelightDiplomaChristmas Present Book:Empire Source: Empire
“To straddle the middle ground and win elections, we have to be in charge of the political agenda. This can only be done by not being beaten in the argument with our critics. They complain that I come down too hard on their arguments. But wrong ideas have to be challenged before they influence public opinion and make for problems. Those who try to be clever at the expense of the government should not complain if my replies are as sharp as their criticisms.” IfsShouldTryingIdeasHardDoneProblemGovernmentPoliticalWinningOpinionInfluenceMiddleArgumentCriticismElectionCriticsComplainingCleverAgendasExpensesBeatenPublic OpinionMiddle GroundPolitical AgendasWrong Ideas Author:Lee Kuan Yew
“Either man is obsolete or war is. War is the ultimate tool of politics. Political leaders look out only for their own side. Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers.” MenLooksWarProblemPoliticalNextPoliticsSidesLeaderPoliticianToolsUltimateElectionFundamentalsAntiwarObsoletePolitical LeadersProblem Solvers Author:R. Buckminster Fuller
“No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems - of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.” TryingTwoProblemPoliticalThreePoliticsUnderstandingNumbersBehindsPoliticianEconomicsElectionSolveAfrican AmericanProblems And SolutionsNumber ThreeCareer PoliticiansPolitics And Economics Book:Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt) Source: Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)
“For too long we've been told about 'us' and 'them.' Each and every election we see a new slate of arguments and ads telling us that 'they' are the problem, not 'us.' But there can be no 'them' in America. There's only us.” LongProblemAmericaPoliticalArgumentElectionAdsSlateElection Day Author:William J. Clinton
“The next General Election isn't about electing yet another Labour or Tory MP to join the hundreds of other Labour or Tory MPs in London. It will be about electing a candidate who will put solving people's problems before scoring political points. Someone who will fight for the future of our communities here in Clwyd West.” PeopleProblemPoliticalFightingNextCommunityElectionWestLondonCandidatesLabourOur CommunityGeneral ElectionsMps Author:Llyr Huws Gruffydd