Politics. From the greek "poly," meaning many, and "ticks," a small, annoying bloodsucker. ~ Dave Barry
Force, violence, pressure, or compulsion with a view to conformity are both uncivilized and undemocratic. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~ Aesop
At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols. ~ Aldous Huxley
. . .the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy. ~ Alex Carey
When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. ~ Anais Nin
What we need is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous. ~ Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Among politicians the esteem of religion is profitable; the principles of it are troublesome. ~ Benjamin Whichcote
The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: Our country ~ when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right. ~ Carl Schurz
There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots. What is it? Distrust. ~ Demosthenes
Although he's regularly asked to do so, God does not take sides in American politics. ~ George J. Mitchell
In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics." All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. ~ George Orwell
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. ~ George Orwell
What experience and history teach is this ~ that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles. ~ George Wilhelm Hegel
Voting is one of the few things where boycotting in protest clearly makes the problem worse rather than better. ~ Jane Auer
We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem. ~ Marian Wright Edelman
People who don't vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests. ~ Marian Wright Edelman
A politician is a man who will double cross that bridge when he comes to it. ~ Oscar Levant
Politics is supposed to be the second~oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~ Ronald Reagan
Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either. ~ Gore Vidal
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that enough good men do nothing. ~ Edmund Burke
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Facts are a better basis for decisions than ideology. ~ Howard Dean
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. ~ Voltaire
The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it. ~ Edward Dowling
The single most powerful faction in politics today is not liberalism or conservatism, but privilege and corruption. ~ Paul Kienitz
In politics stupidity is not a handicap. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. ~ Adlai E. Stevenson
Fascism is capitalism in decay. ~ Lenin (vladimir Ulyanov)
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear. ~ Alan Coren
When you're a lawyer, you expect your client to lie to you, but not when he is the president. ~ Dick Houser
Beguiled by George W. Bush's easy smile and casual indifference to the details, we are on the brink of electing him to office. This isn't choosing a president, it's casting the lead in a sitcom about the presidency. ~ Roger Ebert
When the president does it, that means it is not illegal. ~ Richard Milhous Nixon
It isn't the oceans which cut us off from the world ~ it's the American way of looking at things. ~ Henry Miller
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. ~ P.J. O'Rourke
Politicians are wonderful people as long as they stay away from things they don't understand, such as working for a living. ~ P. J. O'Rourke
What luck for the rulers that men do not think. ~ Adolph Hitler
The great masses of the people... will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. ~ Adolph Hitler
In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first. ~ Ambrose Bierce
The definition of a Patriot: The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors. ~ Ambrose Bierce
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Fascism is capitalism plus murder. ~ Upton Sinclair
We don't have a democracy. ~ Walter Cronkite
The war against terrorism is terrorism. The whole thing is just bullshit! ~ Woody Harrelson
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. ~ Bertrand Russell
Patriotism. . . is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self~respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit. ~ Emma Goldman
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. ~ Hermann Goering
