Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to the test, usually find it to be an 'inconvenience.' We have opted instead for an authoritarian system disguised as a Democracy. We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there.
— Frank Zappa
Astonishing American Politics quotations
If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.
Call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically, that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.
Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics.
I believe the reason why he media so hates me and the reason why they make a big deal of it. This is because I'm one of the few Americans, political Americans who think that we shouldn't be led by the nose by Israel.
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
The American Constitution was not written to protect criminals;
it was written to protect the government from becoming criminals.
Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite.
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.
Now is the time to alter our government.
Now is the time to stop the movement toward oligarchy. Now is the time to create a government which represents all Americans and not just the 1%... No more excuses. We must all become involved in the political process.
The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.
Of the people, by the people, for the people.
When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth - then all Americans are in peril.
From where many of us in the U.K. sit, American politics is hopelessly polarized. All kinds of issues get bundled up into two great heaps. The rest of the world, today and across the centuries, simply doesn't see things in this horribly oversimplified way.
Any politician who can be elected only by turning Americans against other Americans is too dangerous to be elected.
I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn't in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I'd learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.
Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself-and possibly teh bogey man.
And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? You think a Hitler rewards virtue? You think, excuse me, if you'll pardon me, American presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout?
How the American right managed to convince itself that the programs to alleviate poverty are responsible for the consequences of poverty will someday be studied as a notorious mass illusion.
The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth.
Donald Trump is not a Republican. Donald Trump is not a conservative. Donald Trump is trying to pull off the biggest scam in American political history, basically a con job, where he's trying to take over the Republican Party by telling people he's someone who he is not.
We need a very progressive and strong agenda to bring people into the political process because I worry very much about the future of the American democracy where so many people are giving up.
My heart trembles when I reflect that God is just
Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.
A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.
If left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security.
Your political system is actually too democratic.
The fact that Americans vote on every bill and proposition can prolong bigotry indefinitely, especially where it is aimed at minority groups.
The American spirit wears no political label.
In service to others and yes, in sacrifice for our country, there are no Republicans; there are no Democrats; there are only Americans.
Persuading the people to vote against their own best interests has been the awesome genius of the American political elite from the beginning.
DELEGATION, n. In American politics, an article of merchandise that comes in sets.
The four cornerstones of the American political psyche are 1) emotion substituted for thought, 2) fear, 3) ignorance and 4) propaganda
In addition to the decline in competition, American politics today is characterized by a growing ideological polarization between the two major political parties.
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Before any final solution to American history can occur, a reconciliation must be effected between the spiritual owner of the land - American Indians - and the political owner of the land - American Whites. Guilt and accusations cannot continue to revolve in a vacuum without some effort at reaching a solution.