Quotes about voting (1200 quotes, page 12)

“It is right for Parliament to have the first say but if we need to break the impasse, our options must include campaigning for a public vote and nobody is ruling out Remain as an option.”

Keir Starmer (1962) British politician and barrister

Labour conference: Members vote to keep referendum option open https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45631792 BBC News (25 September 2018)
2018

“I think when you have somebody who is celebrating their relationship, the ability of a person who saw no problem depriving an entire population of African Americans in their state of the right to vote, the right to participate as American citizens, the fact that that person was polite to them?… And so, I don’t know what is going on in your brain where you decide to celebrate the fact these people were polite.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates (1975) writer, journalist, and educator

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Joe Biden Shouldn’t Be President, Democracy Now (20 June 2019)

Problem , Thinking , People , Personality

“We are totally opposed to the concept of multi-racialism because it assumes in the first instance that people have got to be arranged in compartments based on colour… you have Europeans in one compartment, Asians and coloureds in two other compartments and Africans in another compartment… And immediately you talk of multi-racialism, you are accepting as a starting point that the races are different and this difference must be recognised. We are non-racialist in our approach and that everybody must be accorded his full political rights – whether he white or black, educated or uneducated, rich or poor. And this is why we are at the moment struggling to earn for our people one-man-one-vote.”

Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) former President of Zimbabwe

In 1961, as quoted in "WATCH: 'Fascinating' video of Mugabe talking 'non-racialism' like Mandela goes viral on social media" https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/watch-fascinating-video-of-mugabe-talking-non-racialism-like-mandela-20170916 (16 September 2017), News24, South Africa
1960s

Education , People

“That shit is the real deal. Listen: I’m a black motherfucker from the poorest town in the country. I’ve been through a lot in life. And I know him. When I see him, he shakes my hand and respects my family. None of them—Barack, whoever—nobody else does that. They’re gonna be who they are and disregard me, my family. So I’m voting for him. If I can get 20,000 people or more to vote for him, I’m gonna do it.”

Mike Tyson (1966) American boxer

In an interview with The Daily Caller. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/21/mike-tyson-why-i-m-a-muslim-for-donald-trump.html (January 21, 2016)
On Donald Trump

Family , Life , People , Country

“It was always going to be uphill for us because I was someone who voted Remain and I think lots of party members felt that this was a moment when you just had to have someone who voted for Brexit in the referendum. In retrospect, that was a hurdle we were never able to overcome.”

Jeremy Hunt (1966) British politician

Boris Johnson wins race to be Tory leader and PM https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49084605 BBC News (23 July 2019)
2019

Thinking

“If, in the worst possible scenario, we leave the European Union without a deal, people must have the opportunity to reject that disastrous outcome, either through a public vote, or through parliamentary democracy.”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

Plaid Cymru needs to earn trust of voters, Leanne Wood says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41679247, BBC News, 20 October 2017
2017

Democracy , People

“Scotland’s 62% vote to remain in the EU counted for nothing. Far from being an equal partner at Westminster, Scotland’s voice is listened to only if it chimes with that of the UK majority; if it does not, we are outvoted and ignored.”

Nicola Sturgeon (1970) First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party

Said in a statement https://news.gov.scot/speeches-and-briefings/first-minister-statement-brexit-and-scotlands-future to the Scottish Parliament on 24 April. Here are the five best quotes from Nicola Sturgeon's indyref2 update https://www.thenational.scot/news/17595363.here-are-the-five-best-quotes-from-nicola-sturgeons-indyref2-update/ (24 April 2019) on the National website. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
2019

“The only way to avoid No Deal is to vote for a deal.”

Theresa May (1956) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Brexit: Corbyn tells May to rule out no deal at meeting https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47052227 BBC News (30 January 2019)
2010s, On Brexit

Way

“Being a member of the single market means accepting free movement, it means accepting the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice - that is exactly what people voted against when they voted for the UK to leave the European Union. What we need to do is ensure that we get the right trade deal so that farmers can continue to export their produce to the European Union but also so we can open up avenues to trade around the rest of the world for farmers as well.”

Theresa May (1956) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Election 2017: May wants farm trade with EU to continue https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-40166689 BBC News (6 June 2017)
2010s, On Brexit

World , Justice , People

“Having destroyed the social power of the nobility and the guildmasters, the bourgeois also destroyed their political power. Having raised itself to the actual position of first class in society, it proclaims itself to be also the dominant political class. This it does through the introduction of the representative system which rests on bourgeois equality before the law and the recognition of free competition, and in European countries takes the form of constitutional monarchy. In these constitutional monarchies, only those who possess a certain capital are voters – that is to say, only members of the bourgeoisie. These bourgeois voters choose the deputies, and these bourgeois deputies, by using their right to refuse to vote taxes, choose a bourgeois government.”

Friedrich Engels book Principles of Communism

Principles of Communism (1847)

Law , Country

“If there is any party in the State which, by its traditions and its history, is entitled to put in the forefront of its work and its programme the betterment of the conditions of life of the working classes, it is our party. (Hear, hear.) We were fighting the battle of the factory hand long before he had a vote; and when the Liberals were tied up in the shackles of laissez faire we were speaking in favour of the combination of working men, long before the Liberals had thought of the subject. It is more than 50 years ago that Disraeli was calling the attention of the country to housing and health questions, and they mocked him with the policy of sewage. The sanitation, or let me say the spiritual sanitation, of our people should have the first call on the historic Tory Party. It is just in the measure as we can convince the country, by the service we give the country, that we are as genuinely interested in these questions and as generally prepared to sacrifice ourselves in solving these questions as any member of the Labour Party, that the country will trust us and that the country will return us again into power.”

Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech to a meeting of the Unionist Party at the Hotel Cecil (11 February 1924), quoted in The Times (12 February 1924), p. 17
1924

Housing , History , Country , Question

“I voted against the nomination of Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor, because she is the most incompetent cabinet-level nominee I have ever seen.”

Betsy DeVos (1958) 11th United States Secretary of Education

Al Franken
https://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=3615

“The American Left champions causes such as gay rights (including gay marriage), equality for women (suffrage, the right to work, etc.), and religious freedom (usually in the form of freedom from religion). Yet, fundamentalist Islam opposes nearly everything the American Left stands for. In many Islamic countries, homosexuality is punishable by death. In Iran, a top government official recently said that torture followed by death is the appropriate punishment for being gay. In Saudi Arabia, women can’t vote, run for public office, or drive cars. Women are routinely jailed and beaten for merely being in the presence of a man not related to them. The Saudi version of Dr. Phil provides televised lessons to men on how to properly beat their wives. In many Islamic countries, women are forced into arranged marriages and held as property by their husbands, something not exactly in line with progressive Western thinking. In some Muslim countries, women aren’t even allowed to decide what clothes to wear. To reveal even the smallest patch of skin is a crime. Religious freedom is often nonexistent under Islamic rule. In countries like Afghanistan and Iran, people who convert from Islam to another religion face public execution. So why does the American Left hate Christianity yet love Islam?”

Chuck Hustmyre (1963) American journalist

2000s, 2009, The Left's love affair with Islam (2009)

Clothes , Religion , Hate , Freedom

“I think that this stupid Polish society, this fucking bunch of imbeciles who voted for these whores cockroaches from PiS is some fucking misunderstanding!”

Zbigniew Stonoga (1974) Polish businessman, video blogger, social and political activist

On YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n--mf4fGfkg, about the results of the parliamentary elections in October 2015 in Poland.

Whore , Thinking , Stupidity

“We have now successfully enlisted the aid of many groups of theoretically anti-communist people, all supporting those very causes which lead directly to victory for the Party. These students will be of great value in creating political upheaval here in the next few years. Though they may not vote themselves, they will do a great part of the work for the candidates we shall endorse.”

George Alec Effinger (1947–2002) Novelist, short story writer

“I think it was the vague promise of sexual freedom that did it,” said Weintraub wryly. “That seems to work on everybody. Even the clergy.”
Source: Relatives (1973)., Chapter 11 (p. 177).

Support , Victory , People , Parting

“When he stood in queues to vote in general elections, a few people criticised this practice, saying that a head of state should not be seen taking sides in an election. But the overwhelming response was that the President had done a service to democracy.”

K. R. Narayanan (1920–2005) 9th Vice President and the 10th President of India

Venkitesh Ramakrishnan in: Citizen President K.R. Narayanan, 1920-2005. http://www.frontline.in/navigation/type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2224/stories/20051202005012500.htm, Frontline

Democracy , People

“I think, my Lord, if ever an Indian in these days deserved to have a memorial voted to him by his loving, greatfull and sorrow-stricken countrymen, unquestionably that Indian was the late Mr Ranade.”

Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842–1901) Indian scholar, social reformer and author

G.K.Gokhale on issue of erecting a memorial statue for Ranade quoted in "Mahadev Govind Ranade", page=487

Love , Thinking , Making love , Memory

“His thinking threw light in a very introspective way on the entire process of the judicial function. His decisions, beyond just the vote they represented, were sufficiently philosophical to be of enduring interest. He decided the case before him with that respect for its particulars, its special features, that marks alike the honest artist and the just judge.”

John Marshall Harlan II (1899–1971) American judge and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1899-1971)

Paul Freund, The Judges' Judge http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877560,00.html, Time Magazine (June 10, 1972).
About Harlan

Way , Decision , Thinking , Light

“Please stop it with voting for Trump. It was funny for a little while. But the guy is Hitler. And by that I mean that we are being Germany in the 30s. Do you think they saw the shit coming? Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over.”

Louis C.K. (1967) American comedian and actor

Guy , Thinking

“I cannot think of a single answer that I made in the years that I argued before the Court while Justice White sat on it that seemed to satisfy him. While I won a number of cases that I argued before him, and he voted for my side in most of them, I never had the sense that anything I said pleased him. White, a former All-American running back (whose much-repeated college nickname, Whizzer, was one that appalled him), was no fan of press claims for broad First Amendment protection. He invariably asked questions that were both pointed and powerful.”

Byron White (1917–2002) Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, American football player

Floyd Abrams, Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment, (Viking Press, 2005), p. 71.

Sense , Thinking , Justice , Question

“A protest vote for UKIP is like shitting your hotel bed as a protest against bad service, then realising you now have to sleep in a shitted bed.”

Stewart Lee (1968) English stand-up comedian, writer, director and musician

Sleep , Bad luck

“On social issues, and this is where you get the charges of hypocrisy, Craig has pledged his opposition to gay marriage and civil unions, he voted against allowing gays and lesbians in the military, he voted against abortion rights, and he voted guilty in the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.”

Larry Craig (1945) American politician

NBC News correspondent David Shuster, August 28, 2007, MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20496462/

Marriage

“I think that, that it would be hard for New Hampshire to vote for somebody who was a fundamentalist minister, affable as he is. He does seem to actually want to write, for example, a prohibition against abortion into the Constitution, which Ronald Reagan, for all his talking about it, never tried to do one time.”

Mike Huckabee (1955) Arkansas politician

Bob Shrum, Meet the Press, MSNBC, 2007-11-25 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21963747/page/6/,

Thinking , Time

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world: no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)

Attributed in Shadow Kings (2005) by Mark Hill, p. 91; This and similar remarks are presented on the internet and elsewhere as an expression of regret for creating the Federal Reserve. The quotation appears to be fabricated from out-of-context remarks Wilson made on separate occasions:

I have ruined my country.

Attributed by Curtis Dall in FDR: My Exploited Father-in-Law, regarding Wilson's break with Edward M. House: "Wilson … evidenced similar remorse as he approached his end. Finally he said, 'I am a most unhappy man. Unwittingly I have ruined my country.'"

A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit.…

"Monopoly, Or Opportunity?" (1912), criticizing the credit situation before the Federal Reserve was created, in The New Freedom (1913), p. 185

We have come to be one of the worst ruled… Governments….

"Benevolence, Or Justice?" (1912), also in The New Freedom (1913), p. 201

The quotation has been analyzed in Andrew Leonard (2007-12-21), " The Unhappiness of Woodrow Wilson https://www.salon.com/2007/12/21/woodrow_wilson_federal_reserve/" Salon:

I can tell you categorically that this is not a statement of regret for having created the Federal Reserve. Wilson never had any regrets for having done that. It was an accomplishment in which he took great pride.

John M. Cooper, professor of history and author of several books on Wilson, as quoted by Andrew Leonard
Misattributed

World , Country , Men

“Then there is Dick Cheney, who essentially said that if Kerry is voted in as president, terrorism will hit America again. How is that? Is Cheney going to make some calls? Apparently he has the hook up.”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

From Her Weblog

Making love

“All types of conniving methods are still being used to keep Negroes from becoming registered voters. Complex literacy tests are often given, with questions that a Ph. D. in any field or a person with a law degree from any great law university in the world could not answer to the even more difficult question of, how many bubbles do you find on a bar of soap? They tell me that occasionally they will ask that question in Mississippi and Alabama. And there are still millions of Negroes who are not registered to vote because of these methods being used.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Address to Cornell College (1962)

Law , Question , Personality , Universe

“If integration is to be a reality, the Negro must struggle for it. And so the Negro must continue to work through legislation; he must continue to work to double the number of registered voters, so that he political climate can be changed; he must continue to work through the courts, and get the law clarified and the Constitution clear on this issue. Then even after working in these areas, he must understand that a court order can only declare rights; it can never thoroughly deliver them. And only when people themselves begin to act, are rights which are on thin paper given life blood. And so the Negro must supplement all that is done through legislation, through voting, and through the courts with non-violent direct action.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Address to Cornell College (1962)

Understanding , Law , People , Reality

“[W]e will look back in astonishment that we allowed our former policy to persist for so long, much as we look back now at slavery, or Jim Crow laws, or the days when women were prohibited from voting.”

James P. Gray (1945) American judge

Source: Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs, 2011, p. 5

Women , Law

“The problem with world hunger is that rich, powerful governments are more than happy to send guns and money to dictators and despots who’ll use food to control their populations and line their pockets. There is no ‘world hunger’ problem. There’s a corruption problem. There’s a greed problem. There’s a gullibility problem....”
“So there’s a corruption problem,” I said. “Point taken. How about if we make a solution for the corruption problem, then? Maybe we could build some kind of visualizer that shows you if your Congresscritter is taking campaign contributions from companies and then voting for laws that benefit them?”

Cory Doctorow (1971) Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author

“What, you mean like every single one of them?”
Source: Short fiction, The Man Who Sold The Moon (2014), p. 149 (ellipsis represents a brief elision of text)

Money , Hunger , Law , Food

“Now as long as the people having their stuff taken away from them are in the minority and the majority feels that they get to benefit from more said taken stuff, you'll always be able to win that decision through a popular vote and claim the moral high ground through democracy.”

Steven Crowder (1987) American actor

Democracy , People , Feeling , Decision

“Just because we toss something to a vote, doesn't change what that something is.Nor does it alter whether that something is inherently good or bad.”

Steven Crowder (1987) American actor

Bad luck , Change

“We got a real clear picture of what they all value. Every Republican's voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they're proposing. Romney wants to let the — he said in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, 'unchain Wall Street.'”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

They're going to put y'all back in chains.
Campaign speech in Danville, Virginia, criticizing Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and the Republican speech, quoted in * 2012-08-14
VP Biden Says Republicans Are 'Going to Put Y'all Back in Chains'
Jake Tapper
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/vp-biden-says-republicans-are-going-to-put-yall-back-in-chains/
2012

“I love our country. I believe that our Constitution was inspired by Providence. I am convinced that freedom itself is dependent on the strength and vitality of our national character. As it is with each senator, my vote is an act of conviction. We have come to different conclusions, fellow senators, but I trust we have all followed the dictates of our conscience.”

Mitt Romney (1947) American businessman and politician

Senate remarks on the Trump impeachment trial (2020)

Dependency , Country , Freedom , Love

“The word "freedom" is rather generic today, and in my mind, sadly, an ill-defined term. Many people think it simply means saying whatever you want and doing whatever you want whenever you want. But true freedom is easy to overlook today. Too many of our fellow citizens are willing to go to the polls and vote away the freedoms of themselves and others simply because they have been convinced of the supposed worthiness of some social goal.”

Lynn Compton (1921–2012) Easy Company soldier turned noted jurist

Source: Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers (2008), p. 248

Thinking , People , Freedom

“Alas! of what is France thinking? Of a surety, we must awake this slumbering nation, we must take it by the arm, we must shake it, we must speak to it; we must scour the fields, enter the villages, go into the barracks, speak to the soldier who no longer knows what he is doing, speak to the labourer who has in his cabin an engraving of the Emperor, and who, for that reason, votes for everything they ask; we must remove the radiant phantom that dazzles their eyes; this whole situation is nothing but a huge and deadly joke.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Book I, VI
Napoleon the Little (1852)

Thinking

“One person, one vote is the great equalizer of humanity.”

Jerome Foster II (2002)

at LCV Annual Gala https://www.lcv.org/article_category/blog/Speech

Personality

“History shows that voting is the sword that cuts through all injustice.”

Jerome Foster II (2002)

at LCV Annual Gala https://www.lcv.org/article_category/blog/Speech

History

“I founded OneMillionOfUs to empower, educate, and register one million young people to vote in the 2020 elections and beyond. As a great and honorable president once said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for”.”

Jerome Foster II (2002)

We are no longer waiting, we are acting."

at LCV Annual Gala https://www.lcv.org/article_category/blog/Speech

Education , People , Waiting

“So I don’t know what the record attendance is in this arena, but I was told that we broke it by a lot. And you got the people outside. Are we allowed to tell them who we would like them to vote for? Because you’re allowed to skip. All right, so wait a minute, let’s do a poll. We do this for the fake news back there. Ready? Who would be the best candidate for us? Not for them. We’re ready. Ready? So let’s go through them just quickly. We won’t include Steyer because he’s a loser. He’s out, okay? We won’t include him. Who would be the best? This is a real poll. This isn’t one of those fake polls taken by … In all fairness, I love you, Fox, taken by Fox, the worst pollster. This guy … this pollster hates Trump’s guts. I was losing the last election by a fortune. They said, “He did great with women.””

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Everything was wrong. And they never replaced this guy. But watch this. You ready?
2020s, 2020, February, Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally (February 28, 2020)

Hate , Waiting , Making love , People

“Right now I'm thinking a good deal about emancipation. One of our sins was slavery. Another was emancipation. It's a paradox. In theory, emancipation was one of the glories of our democracy-and it was. But the way it was done led to tragedy. Turning four million people loose with no jobs or trades or learning. And then, in 1877, for a few electoral votes, just abandoning them entirely. A huge amount of pain and trouble resulted. Everybody in America is still paying for it.”

Shelby Foote (1916–2005) Novelist, historian

Smithsonian Magazine, August 1996

Democracy , Pain , People , Learning

“Democratic elections require that votes are supreme, not big-money. They require contested candidacies, not a two-party duopoly that increasingly reflects the same commercial interests.”

Ralph Nader (1934) American consumer rights activist and corporate critic

"American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy" (2018)

Money

“I will never tell you how to vote. If I do, don't listen to me.”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

Snopes.com found no record of Sanders saying those words. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bernie-sanders-told-supporters-hed-never-tell-them-how-to-vote/ May be derived from a statement during an MSNBC town hall in April 2016:

We are not a movement where I can snap my fingers and say to you or to anybody else what you should do, because you won't listen to me. You shouldn't. You'll make these decisions yourself.
Misattributed

“Now, do you think workers would vote to unequally redistribute profits? Of course not. They would vote for equitable distribution.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

Global Capitalism Monthly Update (12 March 2014)

Thinking

“We have a lot of employment, but the quality of the jobs has collapsed over the last 10 years. The people who work now used to be people who had a job with good income, good benefits and good security. The jobs, overwhelmingly, created have none of those things: low wages—that’s why our wages have gone nowhere; bad benefits—those are shrinking, pensions and so on; and the security is virtually gone. One of our biggest problems in America is people don’t know one week to the next what hours they’re working, what income they’ll get. You can’t have a life like this. So, what we’ve done is we’ve ratcheted down the quality of jobs. We’ve made people use up their savings since the great crash of 2008, so they’re in a bind. They have really no choice but to offer themselves at lower wages or at less benefit or at less security than before, which is why there’s the anger, which is why there was the vote for Mr. Trump in the first place, because this talk of recovery really is about that stock market with the funny money that the Fed Reserve pumped in, but is not about the real lives of people, which are in serious trouble, hence the numbers, like a average American family can’t get a $400 emergency cost because it doesn’t have that kind of money in the background. So, you’ve undone the underlying economy, you have this frothy stock market for the 1 percent, and this is an impossible tension tearing the country apart.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

We Need a More Humane Economic System—Not One That Only Benefits the Rich (December 26, 2018)

Money , Family , Anger , Country

“Workers must control the workplace: If workers made the decisions, do you really think they would vote to outsource their own jobs to China? Of course not. Would workers vote to pollute their own air and water and poison their own kids just to make an extra nickel in profit? Of course not.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

Global Capitalism Monthly Update (12 March 2014)

Water , Thinking , Making love , Decision

“By backing a people's vote, by backing remain, I am sure we can deliver the Labour government the people of this country so badly need,”

Tom Watson (Labour politician) (1967) British politician

Labour party conference: Corbyn plays down divisions amid aide's exit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49786833 BBC News (22 September 2019)
2019

People , Country

“By this time, the era of cut-and-run economics ought to be finished. Such an economy cannot be rationally defended or even apologized for. The proofs of its immense folly, heartlessness, and destructiveness are everywhere. Its failure as a way of dealing with the natural world and human society can no longer be sanely denied. That this economic system persists and grows larger and stronger in spite of its evident failure has nothing to do with rationality or, for that matter, with evidence. It persists because, embodied now in multinational corporations, it has discovered a terrifying truth: If you can control a people’s economy, you don’t need to worry about its politics; its politics have become irrelevant. If you control people’s choices as to whether or not they will work, and where they will work, and what they will do, and how well they will do it, and what they will eat and wear, and the genetic makeup of their crops and animals, and what they will do for amusement, then why should you worry about freedom of speech? In a totalitarian economy, any "political liberties" that the people might retain would simply cease to matter. If, as is often the case already, nobody can be elected who is not wealthy, and if nobody can be wealthy without dependence on the corporate economy, then what is your vote worth? The citizen thus becomes an economic subject.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"Conserving Forest Communities"
Another Turn of the Crank (1996)

Time , Dependency , Freedom , People

“Local participation is the number one need. That is democracy. Politicians talk about democracy, but there really is not much democracy. They are the ones who make the decisions, and they are the government. In this way, your democracy is diminished. Democracy is democracy not only through voting but through participation. The more participation there is, the more democracy is a reality. Until that pertains we can only say there is a move towards democracy, no real democracy in the world.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

The World Teacher for All Humanity (2007)

Democracy , Way , Reality , Decision

“If it can be shown that the majority of women will probably be Liberal, or that they will divide equally, I should say that the balance is, very slightly, in favour of giving them votes.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

Letter to William Ewart Gladstone (26 April 1891), quoted in J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (eds.), Selections from the Correspondence of the First Lord Acton, Vol. I (1917), p. 235

Women

“I didn’t vote in the referendum [Brexit] although I can see how there is absolutely nothing attractive about the EU. My view has always been that the result of the referendum must be carried through. If the vote had been remain there would be absolutely no question that we would remain. In the interest of true democracy, you cannot argue against the wish of the people. Without the people, nobody in high office gets paid.”

Morrissey (1959) English singer

CULTURE Pop Icon Morrissey Says Diversity is Not a Strength https://summit.news/2019/06/24/pop-icon-morrissey-says-diversity-is-not-a-strength/?fbclid=IwAR398wYgRpEduvLPMg8qiO9WQNVnZl3LaNydJ8Bx1-DTF33ahE2rVTHFKuE, June 24 2019
In interviews etc., About politics and society

Democracy , People , Question

“No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.”

Hugo Black (1886–1971) U.S. Supreme Court justice

Majority opinion in Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964)

Making love , Law , Country

“The crux is the reform of the treaty which would lead to common action. There must be a will to defend the central interests of Europe. If there is no majority voting, then the same level of impotence will continue.”

Jacques Delors (1925) French economist and politician

Speech to the European Parliament (23 October 1991), quoted in The Times (24 October 1991), p. 14
President of the European Commission

“I know a lot of people in Michigan that are planning to vote for Trump and they don't necessarily like him that much, and they don't necessarily agree with him. They're not racist or rednecks, they're actually pretty decent people…”

Michael Moore (1954) American filmmaker, author, social critic, and liberal activist

Michael Moore In Trumpland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYZqnc-zY5o, film's premiere (October 18, 2016), “Supporters see Trump as ‘human Molotov cocktail’: Michael Moore https://torontosun.com/2016/10/25/supporters-see-trump-as-human-molotov-cocktail-michael-moore/wcm/80ac8ac8-6c3d-4b29-bcae-498b25f4f408,” Toronto Sun, (Oct. 25, 2016)
2016

People

“I knew this much — that everybody voted Democrat down my way. If you were poor, you voted Democrat and if you were rich you voted Republican.”

Jack Kirby (1917–1994) American comic book artist, writer and editor

Source: 1990, Gary Groth interview

Way

“Turn where we may,—within,—around,—the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you may preserve. Now, therefore, while every thing at home and abroad forebodes ruin to those who persist in a hopeless struggle against the spirit of the age,—now, while the crash of the proudest throne of the continent is still resounding in our ears,—now, while the roof of a British palace affords an ignominious shelter to the exiled heir of forty kings,—now, while we see on every side ancient institutions subverted, and great societies dissolved,—now, while the heart of England is still sound,—now, while the old feelings and the old associations retain a power and a charm which may too soon pass away,—now, in this your accepted time,—now in this your day of salvation,—take counsel, not of prejudice,—not of party spirit,—not of the ignominious pride of a fatal consistency,—but of history,—of reason,—of the ages which are past,—of the signs of this most portentous time. Pronounce in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great Debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save property divided against itself. Save the multitude, endangered by their own ungovernable passions. Save the aristocracy, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and fairest, and most highly civilized community that ever existed, from calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich heritage of many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is terrible. The time is short. If this Bill should be rejected, I pray to God that none of those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes with unavailing regret, amidst the wreck of laws, the confusion of ranks, the spoliation of property, and the dissolution of social order.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician

Speech in the House of Commons (2 March 1831) https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1831/mar/02/ministerial-plan-of-parliamentary-reform#column_1204 in favour of the Reform Bill
1830s

Home , God , Time , Law

“I come now to the question of diplomatic personnel. ... It is said that I am admitting to the service Eton and Harrow. I am not one of those who decry Eton and Harrow. I was very glad of them in the Battle of Britain—by God, I was!—those fellows paid the price in the Royal Air Force on those fatal days. If the Universities are to be criticized, well, put up a vote of censure on Harold Laski, because it is the product of the Universities I have got to accept.”

Ernest Bevin (1881–1951) British labour leader, politician, and statesman

Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth (12 June 1946), quoted in British Information Services, British Speeches of the Day, Vol. IV (1946), pp. 423-424

Universe , God , Question

“[Indian Muslims are taught] “to vote communally, think communally, listen only to communal election speeches, judge the delegates communally...express their grievances communally.”

Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000) Canadian academic

W.C. Smith, 'Modern Islam in India': as quoted in Arun Shourie. “Falling Over Backwards.”
Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis (1943, 1946, 1963), Victor Gollancz, London, ISBN 0-8364-1338-5

Thinking , Communication

“If you don’t vote, then somebody who looks like me is going to vote, some senior person, older than me, some white person.”

Kathleen Wynne (1953) 25th Premier of Ontario

19 March 2018 Wynne demonizes old, white voters in grasp for votes http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/agar-wynne-demonizes-old-white-voters-in-grasp-for-votes

Personality

“The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal - not illegal - vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.”

Melania Trump (1970) Slovenian model, wife of Donald Trump and First Lady of the United States

via tweet https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1325509832594616328 On November 8, 2020
2020

Democracy , People

“By a miracle the 19th amendment has been ratified, we women now have a weapon of defense ... it will be a shame to us if we do not use it … we shall give our enemies a stick with which to break our head, Hold meetings, every time you meet a woman talk to her about going to the polls and vote!”

Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954) African Americans' rights activist

Source: p.310

Time , Women

“Each of us can contribute, though. With our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills and our dollars. We must overhaul both corporate practices and government policies. We must transform culture. Building community around solutions is the most important thing. I am never going to give up working to protect and restore this magnificent planet. Every bit of habitat we preserve, every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, really does matter. Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful.”

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (1980) American marine biologist and policy expert

Source: A love story for the coral reef crisis https://www.ted.com/talks/ayana_elizabeth_johnson_a_love_story_for_the_coral_reef_crisis (April 2019)

Motivation , Communication , Hope , Food

“I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting, and burning is not the way. Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Stand-up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1266878938049101826, (30 May 2020)

Despair , Pain , Justice , Way

“Our children and their children will ask us what did you do? What did you say? For some this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1211661167728480256, (18 December 2019)

Children , History

“So, look, all I wanna do, is I wanna find 11,780 votes.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Spoken to Georgia election officials on January 2, pressuring Secretary of State Brian Kemp to recalculate the 2020 United States presidential election vote in his favor. * 2020-01-03
Audio: Trump berates Ga. secretary of state, urges him to ‘find’ votes
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/audio-trump-berates-ga-secretary-of-state-urges-him-to-find-votes/2021/01/03/aba64f5f-8c3c-490f-af34-618ccea732d7_video.html

“I could not in good conscience vote for a party that thinks protecting the most vulnerable people in society, those who are yet to be born, issues around euthanasia, other pro-life issues and indeed generally people who have a faith and want to practice it, I couldn't vote for a party that thinks that is somehow incompatible with the modern world.”

Rob Flello (1966) British politician (born 1966)

Source: 'This is blatant discrimination': Christian politician deselected by Lib Dems says it was because of abortion and gay marriage views https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/this-is-blatant-discrimination-christian-politician-deselected-by-lib-dems-says-it-was-because-of-abortion-and-gay-marriage-views (13 November 2019)

Faith , People , Thinking , World

“Denning said that while hanging was seen as uncivilized, he believed most people would like to see it restored for the premeditated, deliberate killing carried out by IRA bombers. He believed Parliament would never vote to bring it back.”

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning (1899–1999) British judge

Response to the Remembrance Day bombing (8 November 1987), quoted in The Times (9 November 1987), p. 2

People

“Every election we know features some illegality and irregularity, and of course that’s unacceptable. I support strong state-led voting reforms. Last year’s bizarre pandemic procedures must not become the new norm, but my colleagues, nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale, the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election, nor can public doubt alone justify a radical break when the doubt itself was incited without any evidence.”

Mitch McConnell (1942) US Senator from Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader

2021, Remarks on Electoral College votes (2021)

Strong , Support

“The last year has really brought home that it is truly a matter of life and death. The tangible, human stakes, the real-life consequences when we are led by fools, and when we are led by people who are more concerned with their own enrichment than they are with the financial well-being of the families that pay their salary. We can get direct financial relief to people fast, and I know that this incoming administration wants to do it. But if we don’t win these Senate races, they’re gonna block help for the people because they’re not going to want to relieve suffering. If the Republicans hold the Senate, they’re gonna block it... Every vote will count, every vote will matter, and we saw in November how every vote mattered. And the second is, there will be a big difference in your daily life depending on the outcome here.”

Jon Ossoff (1987) American politician

Quoted in Jon Ossoff Talks With Rasheeda About What Dems Can Achieve If They Win Georgia Runoffs, By Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone (magazine), (4 January 2020)

Family , Home , Dependency , Help

“[Nature] turns us out into the world without giving us any choice in the matter; though all other suffrages and freedoms are perfectly insignificant in comparison with that of which we are thus deprived, an effective and enlightened vote on the question: Shall I, or shall I not, be born?”

James Thomson (B.V.) (1834–1882) Scottish writer (1834-1882)

"The Speedy Extinction of Evil and Misery", part II, p. 62
Essays and Phantasies (1881)

World , Nature , Freedom , Question

“When you subsidize anything, you get more of it. Paying teens even a pittance to have more children encourages them to do so. By the time they are old enough to vote, they finally realize that they will always be poor unless they can get into the work force. By then, however, it is almost too late. Unless a relative helps out, child care costs are prohibitive for someone starting in an entry level job. They find themselves forever stuck in the ‘Poverty Trap.’”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked, (2012), p. 137

Children , Help , Time

“Simply, libertarians do not advocate the initiation of force, fraud, or theft to achieve social or political goals. If you refused to contribute to my favorite charity, and I took your money at gunpoint anyway, I’d be stealing from you. Similarly, if I vote for taxes to force you to contribute to that charity, I’m asking the government to take your money—at gunpoint, if necessary… Wrong doesn’t turn into right, just because the majority agrees to it. Minorities have no protection if they have to depend upon the majority for it.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked, (2012), p. 18

Money , Fraud , Dependency

“If you think America is more racist now than ever, more sexist than before women could vote and more homophobic than when blow jobs were a felony, you have ‘Progressophobia’ and you should adjust your mask because it’s covering your eyes.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

New Rule: ‘Progressophobia’, (2021)

Thinking , Women

“Let me tell you, young man—the dirty little secret of democracy is that just because you get a vote, doesn’t mean you get your choice.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Cryoburn (2010), Chapter 3 (p. 51)

Democracy , Secret

“This year, I've had about half a dozen legislators tell me women really don't belong in the legislature, and they just can't vote for a bill with a woman's name on it.”

Beverly White (1928–2021) American politician

As quoted in The Daily Utah Chronicle https://archive.ph/ukNVj (December 5, 1979)

Women

“I have never voted a party line.I vote on the individual and the issues.”

Walter Cronkite (1916–2009) American broadcast journalist

Free the Airwaves! (2002)

“There is no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

As quoted by * Daniel Dale
2020-08-03
Jonathan Swan reveals the simple secret to exposing Trump's lies: basic follow-up questions
CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/04/politics/fact-check-jonathan-swan-axios-hbo-interview-trump-coronavirus/index.html
2020, August 2020

Cheating , Way

“I voted against a delay to Brexit.”

Liz Truss (1975) British Conservative Party politician

Brexit: MPs vote by a majority of 211 to seek delay to EU departure https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47576813 BBC News (14 March 2019)
2019

“I'm never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes.”

Nancy Pelosi (1940) American politician, first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, born 1940

2021

“Women are organisers at their workplace and are good at organising elections and mobilising people to go and vote. They are the majority of voters, meaning they are the ones who elect people to positions of authority.”

Thokozani Khuphe (1963) Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Source: Zimbabwe: Gender Equality A Right (2010)

People , Women

“Eat that money without compromising with them. If they come to bribe you, accept the money but don’t vote for them because you will be alone while voting. Do not fear because you will have committed no sin and God cannot be angry with you.”

Matthias Ssekamaanya (1936) Ugandan Roman Catholic bishop

Source: ‘Eat’ the money, but vote development, says bishop https://observer.ug/news-headlines/36415-eat-the-money-but-vote-development-says-bishop (February 18, 2015)

Money , God , Fear

“Maybe I know nothing about politics, but if this is getting you votes, I am a Martian astronaut!”

Bob Katter (1945) Australian politician

Source: Excerpt from speech in the House of Representatives https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2Fb15942d6-e86a-4a01-8094-d46337096349%2F0163%22?oneclick=true (Wednesday, 21 October 2015)

“At the same time, we must lift the debt ceiling and hope that we can have a unanimous Democratic vote and perhaps a bipartisan vote to do so”

Nancy Pelosi (1940) American politician, first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, born 1940

Source: " Pelosi writes to Democrats about Build Back Better https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/oct/12/debt-ceiling-deal-latest-biden-pelosi-democrats-us-politics-infrastructure-live?page=with:block-61658bda8f089af1cb01c728#block-61658bda8f089af1cb01c728" (October 12, 2021)

Time , Hope

“If one political party believes "heads we win, tails you cheated," if one political party believes that when you lose an election, the answer isn't to win more votes, but rather to try to prevent the other side from voting, then we have serious and existential threats to our democracy on our hands.”

Chuck Schumer (1950) U.S. Senator from the State of New York

interview reported on March 20, 2021
Source: GOP warns HR 1 could be 'absolutely devastating for Republicans', Karson, Kendall and Meg Cunningham, 20 March 2021, abcnews.go.com, ABC News, 20 March 2021 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-warns-hr-absolutely-devastating-republicans/story?id=76555647,

Democracy , Cheating

“I rejoice heartily at the prospect of the negro vote.”

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions

Source: Letter to British Ambassador to the United States Sir Frederick Bruce, 17 June 1863, quote in Paul Scherer, Lord John Russell, A Biography (1999), p287

“When I voted, my equality tumbled into the box with my ballot; they disappeared together.”

Louis Veuillot (1813–1883) French journalist

Source: Michels, Robert: Political Parties (1911, 1966 edition), pg 75

Box

“I hope that from crisis and tragedy comes engagement. Don’t just complain about [an issue], do something about it! Don’t just lament about the current state of affairs, vote!”

Michael McFaul (1963) American academic and diplomat

"An Interview with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul" in LA Times High School Insider https://highschool.latimes.com/carnegie-mellon-university/an-interview-with-former-u-s-ambassador-to-russia-michael-mcfaul/ (30 August 2019)

Hope

“We are being asked to vote for a customs union and a second referendum. The Bill is directly against our manifesto - and I will not vote for it. We can and must do better - and deliver what the people voted for.”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

Source: Brexit: PM under fire over new Brexit plan https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48360456 BBC News (22 May 2019)

People

“There is only one way to get the change we need - and that is to vote to go; because all EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says no.”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

Source: EU referendum: Leaving EU a 'leap in the dark' says Cameron https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35634239 BBC News (22 February 2016)

History , Way , Change

“Don't make a mistake to vote for opposition candidates who sole aim is opposing government programs. This will mean that you won't receive the services you deserve.”

Robinah Nabbanja (1969) Ugandan politician and teacher

Source: Robinah Nabbanja (2021) cited in " Uganda: PM Nabbanja Stings "Unreliable" Nup's Nakweede in Kayunga Campaigns https://allafrica.com/stories/202112130435.html" on All Africa, 12 December 2021.

“The question whether individuals may insist on being heard by rulemakers, for whom they already (directly or indirectly) voted, has bedeviled administrative law since the turn of the century.”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

Constitutional Choices (1985), The Nature of the Enterprise, The Futile Search for Legitimacy

Law , Question

“You're hearing evidence of dead people voting and you're hearing people who don't live in the states and you think wow this is gonna be turned down, it's gonna be flipped to the rightful winner, and it never happened.”

Mike Lindell (1961) American businessman

Source: 3 April 2021 interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWE0qiU9EEI&t=2m51s with Doug Billings

Dead , People , Thinking

“African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”

Mitch McConnell (1942) US Senator from Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader

Source: "Virginia congressman blasts McConnell for comment on voters of color" https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/20/politics/mcconnell-voters-of-color-criticism-mceachin/index.html, CNN, January 21 2022

“I would swim through vomit to vote against this bill. And listening to some of the nauseating speeches in support of it, I might have to.”

John McDonnell (1951) British politician (born 1951)

Source: A profile of John McDonnell - new shadow chancellor https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34245371 BBC News (14 September 2015)

Support

“I was right and everyone knows it. If there is fraud or large scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2022, February 2022
Source: 4 February 2022 per 7 February 2022 report by Reuters Pence says Trump was wrong that he could have overturned 2020 election https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pence-says-trump-was-wrong-that-he-could-have-overturned-2020-election-result-2022-02-04/ by Alexandra Ulmer

Fraud

“What is democracy anyway? Is it having a vote every four or five years? No, it's not. It's your people having a say in the society they live in. And most of the American people have no say in the society they're living in.”

Mick Wallace (1955) Irish politician and football manager

As quoted in a speech on 8 June 2022, "'Couldn't Spell Democracy:' Irish Politician's Rant on America Resurfaces" in Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/couldnt-spell-democracy-irish-politicians-rant-america-resurfaces-viral-reddit-1722739

Democracy , People

“My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory. A victory for "We the People." We have won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of this nation — 74 million. I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me. I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to unify. Who doesn't see Red and Blue states, but a United States. And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people.For that is what America is about: The people. And that is what our Administration will be about.I sought this office to restore the soul of America. To rebuild the backbone of the nation — the middle class. To make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home. It is the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for this vision. And now the work of making this vision real is the task of our time.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2020, November 2020, Victory speech as US President-elect

Home , Soul , History , Confidence

“Votes are counted. Yes—but vision can neither be counted nor discounted.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

A Testament (1957)

“We do not believe in government through the voting booth. The Spanish national will was never freely expressed through the ballot box. Spain has no foolish dreams.”

Francisco Franco (1892–1975) Spanish general and dictator

Statement during the civil war, cited in 1938 by Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915079,00.html, also cited in John A. Crittenden, Parties and elections in the United States, Prentice-Hall, 1982, (p.6).
1930s, 1938

Box , Dreams

“And the reason we're going to win the nomination is because of you. Because soon or later, all Americans are going to learn what you've already learned; that the biggest lie told by people like me to people like you at election time is that, "If you vote for me, I'm going to solve all your problems." The truth is, the power to change this country is in your hands, not mine.”

Howard Dean (1948) American political activist

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/27/elec04.prez.dean.transcript/

People , Learning , Truth , Lie

“Democracy: I vote because the politicians we vote for are our voice in the parliaments.”

Peter Fiebag (1958) German teacher

Democracy

Quotes about voting page 12

Quotes about voting
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