"A useful principle having wide application but not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable in every situation." – “A Rule of Thumb” from the Free Dictionary
1) Most people who claim to be “victims” in politics are delighted to have been “victimized” because it allows them to gain money, attention or hurt their enemies.
2) Because Republicans don’t fight for anything, Democrats don’t see a need to compromise on anything.
3) When politicians say they “take responsibility” for what they’ve done, it’s a dodge because they don’t mean they’re willing to accept the penalties they deserve for what they’ve done.
4) Although racism certainly still exists in America, 99% of the time in politics, cries of “racism” are part of a cynical, politically-motivated strategy to hurt a political opponent or achieve a political end.
5) “To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.” -- Charles Krauthammer
6) If the mainstream media doesn’t note the Party of someone caught up in the scandal, then that person is a Democrat.
7) If there is a group of people in politics with money to spend in support of an idea, no matter how foolish, stupid or conspiratorial it may be, someone will happily show up to champion their cause as long as the donations, campaign contributions or ad dollars keep flowing.
8) ”I think the problem with (elected Republicans)…is…they don’t like blood in the water. I mean that in a figurative sense. They don’t like shaking things up. They’re afraid to be effective because to be effective is to be hated.” — James O’Keefe (Note: James O’Keefe said that about “the Right,” but I think it’s much more applicable to elected Republicans because there are an awful lot of people on the Right who don’t mind shaking things up).
9) If a policy undermines business or traditions, hurts the military, puts more people on the dole or makes it more difficult for America to function, there will be a significant number of liberals supporting it.
10) If it’s not an emergency and both parties seem willing to work together, either a lot of pork is being doled out or organizations with very deep pockets are pushing for it.
11) Every story is covered fundamentally differently by the mainstream media depending on whether a Democrat or Republican is involved.
12) A conservative will never get an even break from the mainstream media.
13) The government is always slower, less efficient and less customer-friendly than the private sector.
14) Any “emergency legislation” that both parties craft together in response to some disaster will be poorly written, is sure to be harshly criticized down the road and will create a number of serious problems that may be so damaging that Congress would have been better off doing nothing.
15) For 98% of the population, the more government you have in your life, the worse off your life is going to be.
16) Unless they’re in a competitive state or district, politicians are much more scared to cross interest groups than their own voters. That’s because the interest groups have the money and organizational skills to potentially prop up a challenger in a primary while the voters generally choose the devil they know over the devil they don’t unless some interest group convinces them there’s a good reason to do otherwise.
17) The more the government rewards behavior that we don’t want, the more of that behavior we’re going to get.
18) Democrats hide how liberal they are when they run for office in contested races while Republicans claim to be more conservative than the way they’ll govern.
19) Outside of the occasional Republican primary, there is nowhere that any politician is punished for spending too much money. On the other hand, cutting any type of spending buys a politician a whole host of enemies. This is a big part of the reason why we have 18.4 trillion dollars in debt.
20) Because most politicians in D.C. are dishonorable people, only short term deals are meaningful because conditions agreed to over the long haul won’t be honored.
21) "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." – Thomas Sowell
22) When Democrats are in office, they work hard to move the country to the Left as fast as possible. When Republicans are in office, they also typically move the country to the Left, albeit a little slower, in the name of “getting something done.”
23) Whether you’re talking about Republicans or Democrats, those in power become more arrogant, complacent and out-of-touch while those that are out of power become more angry, radical and energized.
24) To paraphrase Voltaire, if you want to find out who REALLY has “privilege” in American politics, take note of which groups you’re not allowed to criticize without being accused of engaging in some kind of “ism.”
25) In dealing with normal human beings, apologies can help. In politics, apologies are treated as admissions that you've transgressed and need to be punished. Therefore, it almost never makes sense to apologize unless you're already sure you're going to get away with whatever you've done.
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