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Vox Populi Quotes

Browse 10 quotes about Vox Populi.

Vox Populi Quotes

“In times of crisis, you get a public reaction that is incoherence on stilts. On the one hand, most people know that the government is not in the oil business. They don't want it in the oil business. They know there is nothing a man in Washington can do to plug a hole a mile down in the gulf. On the other hand, they demand that the president 'take control.' They demand that he hold press conferences, show leadership, announce that the buck stops here and do something. They want him to emote and perform the proper theatrical gestures so they can see their emotions enacted on the public stage. They want to hold him responsible for things they know he doesn't control. Their reaction is a mixture of disgust, anger, longing and need. It may not make sense. But it doesn't make sense that the country wants spending cuts and doesn't want cuts, wants change and doesn't want change.”

PoliticsEmotionObamaVox PopuliDeepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Author:David Brooks
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“Inevitably came the time when he angrily repudiated his former paladin Yasser Arafat. In fact, he described him to me as 'the Palestinian blend of Marshal Petaín and Papa Doc.' But the main problem, alas, remained the same. In Edward's moral universe, Arafat could at last be named as a thug and a practitioner of corruption and extortion. But he could only be identified as such to the extent that he was now and at last aligned with an American design. Thus the only truly unpardonable thing about 'The Chairman' was his readiness to appear on the White House lawn with Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton in 1993. I have real knowledge and memory of this, because George Stephanopoulos—whose father's Orthodox church in Ohio and New York had kept him in touch with what was still a predominantly Christian Arab-American opinion—called me more than once from the White House to help beseech Edward to show up at the event. 'The feedback we get from Arab-American voters is this: If it's such a great idea, why isn't Said signing off on it?' When I called him, Edward was grudging and crabby. 'The old man [Arafat] has no right to sign away land.' Really? Then what had the Algiers deal been all about? How could two states come into being without mutual concessions on territory?”

United StatesNew YorkCorruptionWhite HouseTerritoryOhioChristiansIsraeli Palestinian ConflictArabsExtortionArafatBill ClintonEdward Said1993Vox PopuliFrancois DuvalierGeorge StephanopoulosPhilippe PetainYitzhak Rabin
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
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“When it was first said that the sun stood still and world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei [the voice of the people is the voice of God], as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science.”

PeopleKnowsWorldFirstsSaidStillsEyeVoiceCommonSunAtheismMankindSpeciesRoundsPhilosopherPositive AtheismDoctrineCommon SenseTrustedNatural SelectionAgnosticismOld SayingVoice Of GodOrigin Of SpeciesVox Populi
Author:Charles Darwin
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“The politics of that year [2004] are old now, but the problem remains the same, the real culture clash of American life. It's between the essence of fundamentalism - paternalism, authority, and charity - and the messy imperatives of democracy, "the din of the vox populi" once derided by Abram Vereide. It's the difference between false unity, preached from above, and real solidarity, pledged between brothers and sisters - the kinds who are always bickering.”

YearsKindRealProblemCultureDifferencesDemocracyBrotherAuthorityEthicsEssenceRemainsUnityCharitySolidarityFundamentalismCitizenshipBrothers And SistersImperativesMessyClashAmerican LifeBickeringAbramPaternalismVox Populi
Author:Jeff Sharlet
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