Richard Ingrams Quotes

I tend to be naive and gullible, I guess, but I try to believe that governments believe what they say.

The Blair government has lowered the standing of politics and politicians in our country.

Cats and dogs believe politicians are like cemetery caregivers; they are on top of everyone, but nobody listens.

I think there are certain folks in Missouri that don't trust government. And they haven't trusted government for a long time.

People don't like politicians.

What makes me worry today is the alarming decline in the trust in democratic institutions - political parties, Parliaments, political leaders. Less and less people are going to the polls in most advanced democracies.

I think people are just really disappointed, disappointed with Blair as well, who's just like Bush's lapdog. I think everyone's just disillusioned with politics in our country, and it must be the same in your country.

When voting on the confirmation of a presidential appointee, always vote no, because if he or she is confirmed, it won't be long before your vote is proved politically correct.

I think politicians nationwide have earned a reputation sometimes that is very unfavorable because they will say things and then do something else when they get into office.

People have completely lost confidence in our public officials in Jefferson City.

Politics for me is when I feel a personal engagement between people: I don't trust politicians.

The whole country doesn't like politicians, and young people like them even less.

No one ever died from smoking marijuana, but millions of people have died by believing politicians.

The republican principle demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men, who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests.

I do strive to think well of my fellow man, but no amount of striving can give me confidence in the wisdom of a congressional vote.

All politicians are bores and liars and fakes. I talk to people.

People often say that Trump "speaks the truth," right? But I think what really is happening is he's become a symbol of the kind of cynicism the American public feels towards politicians. He embodies, and he's mobilizing, that cynicism. Because people have no faith in politics anymore. People actually believe that politics is dead, because it's bought and sold.

When a politician tells you something in confidence, always ask yourself: ‘Why is this lying bastard lying to me?’

Today’s festering unhappiness with politics is a product of the plummeting faith in politicians and political institutions that pollsters have tracked since the 1970s and the escalating spiral of cynicism and despair that has accompanied it. Intense partisanship among politicians, vicious political battles in the media, and nasty electoral campaigns coexist with extensive citizen apathy and pathetically low voter ­turnout.

Without the confidence to know our democracy is functioning properly, we risk more disillusionment, more cynicism, and even more public apathy toward the entire system.

A lot of young people don't have a lot of faith in politicians. You can't depend on what they say. They talk in circles. They don't speak the kind of language that has truth to them. I'm speaking differently.

Especially among journalists, politics is not a pursuit that's held in high esteem. We tend to be cynical about it - but I actually believe in democracy.

Soaring rhetoric will not restore the American people's confidence in their government.

I don't usually admire Sarah Palin, but when she was making fun of this 'hopey changey stuff,' she was right: there was nothing there.

We believe - most polls indicate - a lack of support, a lack of confidence in the ability of the Congress to work. That is disturbing in terms of our general democracy.