“All political movements are like this - we are in the right, everyone else is in the wrong. The people on our own side who disagree with us are heretics, and they start becoming enemies. With it comes an absolute conviction of your own moral superiority. There's oversimplification in everything, and a terror of flexibility.” PeopleRealityPoliticalPoliticsSidesCommunityPartyMoralEnemyGenerationsHuman NatureMovementBecomingEthicsAbsolutesStrategyUnityTerrorConvictionIdeologyTeaVotingDisagreeFree SpeechSuperiorityPolitical PartiesFlexibilityCivilityDisobedienceTea PartyCivil DisobedienceHereticPartisanshipThird PartiesPolitical MovementsOversimplificationMoral Superiority Author:Doris Lessing
“The programme of the British Labour Party under Neil Kinnock is so wildly irresponsible, so separate and apart from the historic NATO strategy, that I think a Labour government that stood by its present policies - and I rather doubt that they would - would, if it didn't destroy the Alliance, at least diminish its effective ability to do the task for which it was created.” IfsThinkingGovernmentAbilityPartyDoubtPolicyTasksStrategyBritishLabourDiminishHistoricAlliancesIrresponsibleProgrammesNatoLabour Party Author:Richard Perle
“Democrats in state legislatures are at their lowest level since the 1920s. President Obama has a can't-miss strategy to save the party in 2016. He's leaving.” StatesPresidentLevelsPartyMissingStrategyDemocratLeavingPresident ObamaLowestLegislatureState Legislatures Author:Craig Ferguson
“The Republican party does have a lot of work to do. But changing our principles is not a winning strategy. We need to modernize, not moderate.” NeedsDoeWinningPartyPrinciplesRepublicanStrategyRepublican PartyModerates Author:Bobby Jindal
“Constant conflict is actually often good politics. Because the more you can inflame your supporters the more likely they are to show up at election day. And if they're more inflamed than the other side, even if the other side has more people agreeing with it, you'll win, because your crowd will show up.” PeopleIfsShowsRealityPoliticalPoliticsWinningSidesPartyDemocracyConflictElectionStrategyConstantCrowdsIdeologyVotingFree SpeechSupporterPolitical PartiesCivilityElection Day Author:William J. Clinton
“When it comes to the budget, we know that we shouldn't be cutting more on core investments, like education, that are going to help us grow in the future. And we've already seen the deficit cut in half. It's going down faster than any time in the last 60 years. So why would we make more cuts in education, more cuts in basic research? Nobody thinks that's a good idea.” ThinkingKnowsYearsIdeasHelpingLastsPoliticalPoliticsGrowsMoneyPartyEducationHalfCuttingPolicyResearchStrategyInvestmentCoreIdeologyFasterBudgetsGood IdeasPolitical PartiesDeficitBasic Research Author:Barack Obama
“Recently in Washington, unfortunately, we have seen examples of the wrong kind of leadership -- when politicians choose scorched earth over common ground, when they operate in what I call the 'evidence-free zone,' with ideology trumping everything else.” KindRealityEarthPoliticalPoliticsJusticePartyCommonGenerationsPolicyExamplePoliticianEthicsEvidenceStrategyIdeologyZonePolitical PartiesCivilityCommon GroundPartisanshipScorched Earth Author:Hillary Clinton
“[Fighting Climate Change] is important for every single person on the planet, which is why it has to be the greatest grassroots movement of all time. This is the battle of our lives. We're fighting for our children.” ChildrenPersonsImportantWisdomRealityPoliticalFightingPoliticsNatureCommunityLeadershipPartyFamilyHistoryOur LivesGenerationsHuman NaturePolicyMovementPlanetsBattleOur ChildrenStrategyUnityClimateClimate ChangeHuman RightsAll TimeIdeologyPolitical PartiesCivilitySingle PersonGrassrootsGrassroots Movements Author:Emma Thompson
“Three of the last four [elections], '06, '08, and '12, were disastrous for Republicans. And they were years in which we just we stayed quiet, we went along the get-along, we didn't stand on principle. The only year that was a good year for Republicans was 2010, when we painted in bold colors, not in pale pastels. We stood for principle. I think winning this fight right now is the most important thing we can do to see significant victories in 2014.” ThinkingYearsImportantLastsPoliticalFightingThreePoliticsWinningCan DoCommunityLeadershipJusticePartyPrinciplesFourPolicyColorVictoryRepublicanRight NowQuietElectionImportant ThingsStrategyUnitySignificantIdeologyVotingPalePolitical PartiesPartisanshipGood YearsPastel Author:Ted Cruz
“Today, unfortunately, the right to vote seems to have become a partisan issue. Democrats seek to guarantee and expand voting rights. Republicans try to undermine and suppress voting rights.” TryingSeemsTodayPoliticalPoliticsJusticePartyDemocracyIssuesRightsPolicyRepublicanEqualEthicsVoteStrategyDemocratIdeologyGuaranteesVotingFree SpeechPolitical PartiesEqual RightsPartisansRight To VotePartisanship Author:Donna Brazile
“I feel passionately about issues, and I don't hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus group-tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. Now that has always made some people, you know, uneasy. Some people like that style, some people don't. [...] But I am not a bully.” PeopleKnowsFeelsMadePoliticalPoliticsCommunityPartyEmotionIssuesFocusGroupsStyleHuman NatureStrategyBlowIdeologyCandidatesGovernorsBullyTestedPolitical PartiesCivilityUneasyFocus Groups Author:Chris Christie
“Tactics and strategies ought to be based on what the real world is, and we do not have the political power to do this. We're not about to shut the government down over the fact that we cannot, only controlling one house of Congress, tell the president that we're not going to fund any portion of [Obamacare]. Because we can't do that.” WorldRealFactsRealityGovernmentPoliticalHousePoliticsPresidentCommunityLeadershipMoneyPartyPolicyHealthOughtConstitutionStrategyCongressIdeologyFundReal WorldPortionsPolitical PartiesTacticsCivilityObamacarePolitical PowerPartisanshipTactics And Strategy Author:Tom Coburn
“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
“I don't think Edward Snowden deserves a death penalty or life in prison. I think that's inappropriate. I think that's why he fled, [because] that is what he faced.” ThinkingRealityPoliticsLeadershipJusticePartyTechnologyDemocracyHuman NaturePolicyEthicsDeserveStrategyPrisonHuman RightsIndividualitySocial MediaIdeologyTeaFree SpeechPenaltiesDeath PenaltyDisobedienceTea PartyInappropriateCivil DisobedienceThird PartiesSnowden Author:Rand Paul
“I think Republicans will not win again in my lifetime ... unless they become a new GOP, a new Republican Party. And it has to be a transformation. Not a little tweaking at the edges.” ThinkingLittlesRealityPoliticalPoliticsWinningPartyGenerationsRepublicanTransformationStrategyLifetimeEdgesIdeologyVotingRepublican PartyPolitical PartiesGop Author:Rand Paul
“The strategy of semantic ascent is that it carries the discussion into a domain where both parties are better agreed on the objects (viz., words) and on the main terms connecting them. Words, or their inscriptions, unlike points, miles, classes and the rest, are tangible objects of the size so popular in the marketplace, where men of unlike conceptual schemes communicate at their best. The strategy is one of ascending to a common part of two fundamentally disparate conceptual schemes, the better to discuss the disparate foundations. No wonder it helps in philosophy.” MenTwoPhilosophyHelpingLanguageTermPartyCommonWonderClassObjectsPhilosophicalFoundationStrategySizeCommunicateMilesDiscussionCarrieSchemesConnectingDomainMarketplaceTangibleAscentInscriptionsAscending Author:Willard Van Orman Quine