Gary Ackerman Quotes

I'm very concerned about the tone of politics in recent years. We've seen a decline in civility and bipartisanship, and a rapid increase in hostility between those who have differing opinions. I think this has led to the alienation of the public in governance, which jeopardizes democratic participation.

In Washington, compromise has become a dirty word.

Politics has got too personal, too nasty, in Britain, as it has in America.

I think partisanship is probably the greatest problem in Washington, D.C.

My own students say they don't trust anyone who voted for Trump. How can you have a democracy with that?

It's a bit unfair to accuse Obama of dividing the nation when the facts show that it already is.

It's a sad indication of where Washington has come, where policy differences almost necessarily become questions of integrity. I came to Washington in the late '70s, and people had the ability in the past to have intense policy differences but didn't feel the need to question the other person's character.

I've decided to cut out the part of the speech where I say anything nice about Democrats.

We are now living in a post-Roosevelt, post-Reagan universe. What comes next will not be post-partisan, because faction is an intrinsic human impulse.

Does politics have to be injected into everything?

I mean, look, we're living in a country where you can't have a non-denominational response. If you're slightly critical of either party, all of the partisans jump on you like you're a lunatic.

We are losing sight of civility in government and politics. Debate and dialogue is taking a back seat to the politics of destruction and anger and control. Dogma has replaced thoughtful discussion between people of differing views.

We have drained common sense out of our politics. The more we focus on tactics and games, the more good people check out and give up.

What strikes me when I leave Washington is the extent to which there's a huge disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country. The rest of the country is not hyper partisan.

It seems to me that election season is just a Petri dish for anger and cynicism.

I've never seen Washington as divided as we are right now.

In this closely divided nation, it satisfies no practical purpose for the entertainment elite to be identified as so intensely political and utterly one-sided.

Incivility is not the disease. It is the symptom. Partisanship is the disease…. When your highest duty is to your party, the public interest becomes subservient.

There used to be a civility. Today, members of Congress would rather destroy another member than compromise.

Part of the tribalness of politics is to really dislike the other side with intensity. And the more I see of them the more I hate them.

I'm a hater. Part of the tribalness of politics is to really dislike the other side with intensity. And the more I see of them the more I hate them. I hate their negativity. I hate their narrowness

There are some in Congress who would rather see their opponents lose than see their country win. That has got to stop…. They must find a way to put country ahead of party.

We have seen in Washington the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock. There is nothing wrong with our country. There is much wrong with our politics ….

My Republican compatriots do not feel that people ought to work with Democrats across the aisle—Compromise is a bad word.

People at the political extremes have an advantage over the rest of us. Only they seem to know exactly who and what is wrong with America and precisely what policies and programs should be adopted to fix it.