Electoral Politics Quotes

“The only difference between Hitler and Bush is that Hitler was elected.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Simply because one is Black or Latino or lesbian or gay or whatever does not guarantee the person’s fidelity to a body of politics that empowers the particular constituency that they supposedly represent. The number of black elected officials has risen from 100 in 1964 to more than 9000 today. The number of African Americans who were in congress 30 years ago was about five; today it is over 40, an 800 percent increase. But have Blacks experienced an 800 percent increase in real power? It hasn’t happened. So, I think the emphasis of this liberal notion of social change by working solely within the established electoral system is just fatally flawed.”
― Manning Marable

“Free elections don't always result in fair elections.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“The tipping point for e-voting fraud, I think, will be when they realize it's cheaper to hire hackers than to buy campaign ads.”
― Matt Blaze

“No matter their party, people with a conflict of interest should be banned from the Electoral College.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“An institution rooted in slavery can never set us free.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“As far as I know, only politicians can make this kind of miracle staying more than 30 years of their entire life lying or hiding from the electors what really happen behind the political curtain of our status quo. This is one of the rare cases that a politician can swear in front of any deity or authority without any hesitation: “I really appreciate your ignorance or indifference about politics. It’s a blessing for me in my lifetime”.”
― Frederick Vanderbuilt

“We trust people's lives to randomly selected juries as the only fair method; should we use any less fair method for a nation or a planet?”
― Peter J. Carroll, Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magic

“The primary elections are the cornerstones of the plebiscitary presidency. They strip away the veneer of party unity and expose the individuality of each candidate. As contemporary selection procedures force party leaders to compete with one another in the open, they prompt them to differentiate themselves publicly and to boast of their independence of mind. Pitting potential party spokespersons against one another in public combat, these procedures undercut the credibility of the candidate's affiliation with anything other than him- or herself.”
― Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton

“What's surprising about the 2016 election results isn't what happened. It's what didn't happen. Trump didn't lose by 30 points or win by 20 points. Most people who voted chose the same party in 2016 that they'd chosen in 2012. That isn't to say there was nothing at all distinct or worthy of study. Crucially, white voters without college educations swung sharply toward Trump, and their overrepresentation in electorally key states won him the election. But the campaign, by the numbers, was mostly a typical contest between a Republican and a Democrat. The fact that voters ultimately treated Trump as if he were just another Republican speaks to the enormous weight party polarization now exerts on our politics.”
― Ezra Klein, Why We're Polarized

“Voting in rigged elections under dictators is like watching a batter pull off a single on the last ball. You know who's going to take the strike!”
― Vishwajeet Gudadhe