POLITICAL PARTIES QUOTES
quotations about political parties
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.
JOHN ADAMS
letter to Jonathan Jackson, October 2, 1789
A party is the vanguard of a class, and its duty is to lead the masses and not merely to reflect the average political level of the masses.
VLADIMIR LENIN
speech on the agrarian question, November 14, 1917
It is contended by many, that it is the safety of a republican form of government to have two political parties, that one may watch and detect the corrupt designs of the other; the argument would be sound, if either party would banish all demagogues from its ranks, become purely patriotic, be guided entirely by love of country, charity toward others, the fear of God, prudence, sound discretion, and rigid justice to all; as they are now constituted, for one to correct the faults of the other, would be like Satan rebuking sin.
L. C. JUDSON
attributed, Day's Collacon
The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.
G. K. CHESTERTON
"The Blunders of Our Parties", The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton
However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
Party is the madness of many, for the gain of a few.
ALEXANDER POPE
"Thoughts on Various Subjects"
If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789
A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life.
JOHN STUART MILL
On Liberty
Political parties are corporations, much like General Motors, for example. GM makes cars, political parties make political candidates. The leadership of GM makes decisions about which cars to make; political parties make decisions about which candidates to make. They do not ask rank-and-file "members" what they want. Both are trying to come up with what they think will win the game.
GARY MILLINGTON
letter to the editor, "Political parties are about money, not fairness", Tallahassee Democrat, April 17, 2016
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -- and both commonly succeed, and are right.
H. L. MENCKEN
attributed, Return of the Portable Curmudgeon
Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
GEORGE ORWELL
Politics and the English Language
The bosses of the Democratic party and the bosses of the Republican party alike have a closer grip than ever before on the party machines in the States and in the Nation. This crooked control of both the old parties by the beneficiaries of political and business privilege renders it hopeless to expect any far-reaching and fundamental service from either.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The Outlook, July 27, 1912
In truth I care little about any party's politics--the man behind it is the important thing.
MARK TWAIN
letter to W. D. Howells, September 14, 1876
If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
speech, March 6, 1956
Much indeed to be regretted, party disputes are now carried to such a length, and truth is so enveloped in mist and false representation, that it is extremely difficult to know through what channel to seek it. This difficulty to one, who is of no party, and whose sole wish is to pursue with undeviating steps a path which would lead this country to respectability, wealth, and happiness, is exceedingly to be lamented. But such, for wise purposes, it is presumed, is the turbulence of human passions in party disputes, when victory more than truth is the palm contended for.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Timothy Pickering, July 27, 1795
The person who uncritically embraces any party line is guilty of an idolatrous surrender of her core identity.... Neither liberal fairy dust nor conservative hardball addresses our ragged human dignity.
BRENNAN MANNING
Abba's Child
I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 6, 1796
Party leads to vicious, corrupt and unprofitable legislation, for the sole purpose of defeating party.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
The American Democrat
A curious condition of a republic based roughly on the original Roman model is that it cannot allow true political parties to share in government. What then is a true political party: one that is based firmly in the interest of a class be it workers or fox hunters. Officially we have two parties which are in fact wings of a common party of property with two right wings. Corporate wealth finances each. Since the property party controls every aspect of media they have had decades to create a false reality for a citizenry largely uneducated by public schools that teach conformity with an occasional advanced degree in consumerism.
GORE VIDAL
The United States of Amnesia
I don't like either political party. One should not belong to them -- one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.
RAY BRADBURY
attributed, Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction