“Up against the corporate government, voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the marching orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers. The money of vested interest nullifies genuine voter choice and trust.”

— Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Ralph Nader 36

American consumer rights activist and corporate critic 1934

Brent Budowsky (1952) American journalist

Why Libertarian Gary Johnson must be included in debates (August 11, 2016)

“Nairobians only had crooks as candidate in 2013. Voters did not have leaders of integrity to choose from. In 2017, they will have me.”

Miguna Miguna (1962) lawyer, author and columnist

Facebook post in response to detractors, https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMigunaMiguna/posts/562185893970795, 2016
2016

“A platform is something a candidate stands for and the voters fall for.”

Gracie Allen (1902–1964) American actress and comedienne

Source: How to Become President (1940), Ch. 7 : Buying a good used platform

“While they complain about candidates pandering to special-interest groups, 217 years of this republic have shown that deep down people want candidates who strive to be all things to all men. People say they want office-seekers who are candid, frank, straightforward, genuine, who tell the truth even when it hurts. Who are on the up-and-up, guileless, unartful, undesigning, unequivocal. But nobody has won running on that platform, including Lincoln, FDR and Reagan, and you will be no exception. Voters elect only candidates who are deceptive, duplicitous, bluffers, cunning, crafty and Machiavellian. That's because voters want politicians like themselves. The media agrees. So why are you out of step? Thus, you've botched your campaign. You're going to lose by a landslide. I accuse you of being politically pure, clean, pristine, impeccable and untarnished. Your very presence embarrasses the system because you don't play by the historic rules.”

Alan Keyes (1950) American politician

Thomas Roeser to Keyes in the Chicago Sun Times.
Miscellaneous

“The political horizon would be greatly clarified if the voters were offered the choice of three parties representing three strategies: A conservative party”

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

Property (1935)
Context: The political horizon would be greatly clarified if the voters were offered the choice of three parties representing three strategies: A conservative party committed to the preservation of individualism, perhaps in a highly modified form; a communist party bent upon revolutionary changes through violent seizure of power, confiscation, and a proletarian dictatorship; and a radical party seeking to socialize the basic industries and to move toward an equalization of economic privilege through purchase, taxation, and drastic regulation, without resorting to confiscation or armed seizure of power.

“The American political system is like a gigantic Mexican Christmas fiesta. Each political party is a huge piñata — a papier-mâché donkey, for example. The donkey is filled with full employment, low interest rates, affordable housing, comprehensive medical benefits, a balanced budget and other goodies. The American voter is blindfolded and given a stick. The voter then swings the stick wildly in every direction, trying to hit a political candidate on the head and knock some sense into the silly bastard.”

P. J. O'Rourke book Parliament of Whores

Parliament of Whores (1991)

“When the political columnists say 'Every thinking man' they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to 'Every intelligent voter' they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.”

Franklin Pierce Adams (1881–1960) United States humor writer

Nods and Becks (1944)

“This is not a confrontation between ‘left’ and ‘right’. I am trying to represent the deep feelings of those many thousands of rank-and-file Tories in the country—and potential Conservative voters, too—who feel let down by our party and find themselves unrepresented in a political vacuum.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Speech in Finchley (31 January 1975) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102605
Shadow Secretary for Environment

“Everybody knows that voters dislike pay increases for politicians, and they enjoy it when money is taken away from politicians.”

Bronisław Komorowski (1952) Polish politician, president of Poland

"Ex-president says Polish politicians are poorly paid" in Polskie Radio https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7784/Artykul/2786822,Expresident-says-Polish-politicians-are-poorly-paid (10 August 2021)

“I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

Address at the National Convention Banquet of the Americans for Democratic Action (17 May 1952) https://trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=1296&st=republican+party&st1=

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