Timothy Noah Quotes

There are but two divisions of party in the United States; and he is a very weak or very presumptuously vain man who can think of organizing a third party that shall rule them both.

If the 2016 election is any indication, every four years, millions more Americans will continue backing away from their own parties to choose a third party instead.

I don't for the life of me understand how anybody could contemplate the results of the 2000 election in the US and say that electoral politics doesn't matter any more, and that Ralph Nader was right when he said there is no difference between the two parties.

The nature of our two main political parties has changed in the United States.

I don't understand how anybody's still a Democrat or a Republican. I don't know what they're basing it on.

I do not understand those who divide political life from the point of view of political parties.

Our two major parties are actually called the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party.

But I'm not a member of the Democratic Party. If you know anything about me, anybody who's followed me, I'm the anti-Democrat. I have railed against the Democrats for a long time.

There aren’t any independents anymore.

There's no place for a third party in the United States.

America doesn’t need a third party; it needs a second one.

There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between politicians of either major party.

I didn't realize that running as an independent would be perceived as a threat to the Democrats.

Silence is not what democracy needs. Right now we have an election where, even the supporters of Hillary Clinton, the majority don't support Hillary; they just oppose Donald Trump. And the majority of Donald Trump supporters don't support him; they just oppose Hillary.

While a truly national third party wouldn't necessarily be bad, smaller niche parties are ill-suited to our federalist system.

I've never been a fan of party politics.

People are sick of the false choice between the established political parties who take voters for granted.

I think the post-Rick-Perry Texas is a Texas that is more competitive between the Democrats and Republicans. I think the Republicans still have a huge advantage, but I think if we're arguing that competition is good for the system, then I think a stronger two-party system in Texas is inevitable, and I think that it will happen.

The recent AP poll that came out last month said that approximately 90% of the American people felt that the two-party system was failing us in the presidential election.

We have a ways to go here, but elections have consequences ... I think that our Republican colleagues, the Republican National Party, understands this is our new demographic in America as a result of the election. I think they understand if they want to be a national party, they're going to have to deal with this issue. For Latinos and other immigrants, this is the civil rights issue of our time.

There are no moderate Republicans left, with the exception of a few who would vote with us when it doesn’t make any difference,” Frank said. “It’s the most rigid ideological party since before the Civil War. … The bumper sticker I’m going to have printed up for Democrats this year is, ‘We’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.’

I think the two-party system is a complete sham; I think it is designed so that the voters can feel like they have the satisfaction of "throwing those bums out of office" every four to eight years, but without the direction of the country ever significantly changing.

The only thing dumber than a Democrat or a Republican is when those pricks work together. You see, in our two-party system, the Democrats are the party of no ideas and the Republicans are the party of bad ideas. It usually goes something like this. A Republican will stand up in Congress and say, 'I've got a really bad idea.' And a Democrat will immediately jump to his feet and declare, 'And I can make it sh*ttier.'

It's tempting to remember that the Tea Party had a peak and then the Republican Party establishment sort of beat it back down. And so these things are won in a day.

The two-party system has served America very well. We always have political movements one way or another but the evolution of a lasting third party probably will not happen.