Robert Teeter Quotes

Apathy is a rational reaction to a system that no longer represents, hears or addresses the vast majority of people.

I felt disconnected from the decisions made in Washington and, to be honest, really didn't think my vote mattered because I didn't have a direct line of sight from my vote to a result.

[Describing "political alienation:" The feeling that politics is a racket for a few insiders and is meaningless to the rest of the people.

People feel they are not participating in the decision-making process. Decisions are exclusive to those at the very top. You have grown up with crony capitalism and it creates ever more resentment.

Feinstein doesn't interact with the people at all, and I think it breeds cynicism.

Trump is not the problem. He is the symptom of the problem where Americans no longer believe that the system works for them.

People who feel alienated have little trust in the institutions of our society. This adds to the wider sense of disaffection and makes it more difficult for our politics to work.

The thing that worries me more than anything else is losing faith in the capacity of politics to change things. I don't mean scepticism, criticism, querying, but I do mean cynicism.

The second Trump won, I felt super-powerless and I thought, 'Oh my God, no one's looking out for us.'

America is basically a hypocritical society and recognizes that hypocrisy is found throughout. The public doesn't look for politicians to tell the truth or to deliver on their promises. This country could become America the beautiful, but it never will. It's in the hands of the wrong people. And the public is so apathetic. Those who are not apathetic are dispirited, discouraged, and disheartened. Those who will sometimes feel a twitch of inspiration that would lead them to do something, they, based on their conditioning, will start to total up all the reasons why they can't succeed.

Cynicism such as one finds very frequently among the most highly educated young men and women of the West, results from the combination of comfort and powerlessness.

People are rapidly losing hope and trust. They believe their government has been captured by special interests and no longer cares about them, and they are right.

Many young Muslims see no opportunities for themselves and do not feel they have control over their lives or a stake in their nation's future. Such pessimism leads to disengagement. We risk losing a generation of young Muslims to apathy and extremism.

Power should not be concentrated in the hands of so few, and powerlessness in the hands of so many.

It's not just that individuals have lost faith in the integrity of their leaders, it's that they no longer believe society's most powerful institutions are acting in their interests.

I never loved the world around me as it was.

There is a central flaw in contemporary culture and a corresponding and related inability to address it. Society seems somehow unable to adequately help or protect itself. Normal citizens feel powerless, isolated and disturbed.

The political satirist usually votes against their own interests, but the bottom line is that it doesn't really matter.

Authoritarian leadership and therefore a lack of democracy have led to a certain apathy among the people, to a sort of civil nihilism, a skepticism.

We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course. Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic.

The poor have neither the income nor political power to hold anyone accountable for meeting their needs- they are political and economic orphans.

It is true that I am still permitted to cast my vote, but I do so with the foreknowledge that it will not count .... My membership is at once a fraud and a farce.

I swear to the Lord I still can't see Why Democracy means Everybody but me.

The taste of democracy becomes a bitter taste when the fullness of democracy is denied.

People don't really like anyone. It is the crisis of our young democracy