QuoteProject
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.
P. J. O'Rourke
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote critiques the contrasting views of government between the two major political parties in the U.S.

P.J. O'Rourke humorously highlights the differing philosophies of the Democratic and Republican parties regarding the role of government in improving citizens' lives. He suggests that Democrats advocate for government as a solution to problems and improvement of individual lives, while Republicans express skepticism towards government effectiveness but still take control and demonstrate its failures.

Themes

GovernmentPoliticsPartiesDemocratsRepublicansCritique

In practice

Example use cases

In a political debate to illustrate the differences between party platforms.

More from P. J. O'Rourke

Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
Predicting innovation is something of a self-canceling exercise: the most probable innovations are probably the least innovative.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
I spend my days kneeling in the muck of language, feeling around for gooey verbs, nouns, and modifiers that I can squash together to make a blob of a sentence that bears some likeness to reason and sense.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
The idea of a news broadcast once was to find someone with information and broadcast it. The idea now is to find someone with ignorance and spread it around.
P. J. O'RourkeRead

Similar quotes

My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not.
Indira GandhiRead
This country has been strip-mined by rich and powerful interests. If you dont like what they're doing, don't just sit there. Vote them out.
Ralph NaderRead
I deplore the need or the use of troops anywhere to get American citizens to obey the orders of constituted courts.
Dwight D. EisenhowerRead
NATO was constructed on the - with the reason, whether one believes it or not, that it was going to defend Western Europe from Russian assault. Once the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was beginning to collapse, that reason was gone. So, first question: why does NATO exist?
Noam ChomskyRead
Customs, traditions, laws should be flexible, within good reason, if that is what it takes to make our democracy work.
John LewisRead
We've been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn't care about the law.
Garry KasparovRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.