Barry Goldwater Quotes

I think America has always been polarized.

During the election of Washington's successor, it became apparent that the country was sharply divided and that the dissatisfaction with Federalist policies was deep and fervent.

Unlike any other leader in modern American history, we are led today by a president that has decided to pit Americans against each other.

We've had periods of meanness in American politics. Actually, the dawn of partisan division in America was basically in George Washington's second term, when it was obvious that he would be the first and only consensus president.

The Republicans are mad at Donald Trump, and the Democrats are mad at Hillary Clinton. And the Bernie Sanders people are mad at everybody. When has that ever happened?

The cleavages Trump has revealed are too deep

Donald Trump:President of the Divided States of America

For some people, loud advocacy of Trump helps to cover up the deep doubt and even shame they feel about their support for Trump.

It's almost impossible to have a constructive conversation about health-care reform in Arkansas without passions rising and folks taking sides.

I sometimes think that I didn't leave the Republican Party, as much as it left me.

My first visit to West Berlin was in February 1983. The drive through East Berlin, the fact that West Berlin was surrounded by a wall that was more than 100 miles long - the absurdity and intensity of it really knocked me out.

Political paralysis and partisanship are sabotaging American power.

The reality is that the Republican Party may have unified government but is not unified enough on many major signature policy areas.

Health care has become a political football that is being tossed back and forth by both sides in Washington. And it's divided our country.

I think people vote Ukip from a frustration with politics, which is legitimate, and which politicians have to listen to.

A Brexit with a poor outcome will damage our country and lead to years of further division.

Politics now is fractured. The rising tide of nationalism and populism threatens to consume our politics. Whether it is Trump or Putin abroad, or Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage at home, our political order is increasingly dominated by forces that seek to divide us.

I was talking to Marylanders... What we were hearing, everywhere, was an overwhelming sense of frustration. People felt a huge disconnect between Annapolis and the rest of Maryland.

If politicians of both parties would spend more time legislating and less time attacking each other, we would all be better off.

The Brexit referendum showed us to be divided, and those of us who campaigned for remain have to accept that we lost. But that does not mean that we have to agree to the deal the prime minister has brought back - a deal that satisfies no one.

I don't see Republicans flipping their lids trying to burn down buildings in Ninja outfits when a Democrat, progressive, or socialist tries to speak.

I just want my party back, please.

Trump makes no pretense about being the commander in chief of all of the country, being president of all of the people, including the people who voted against him. He is, in effect, a tribal chieftain who has declared war on half of the country.

I got into my first fight, Democrat versus Republican, in second grade. I won.

For all the talk about the bitterness and the partisanship in American politics, is it really that bitter and partisan? Think of American history. Think of Joseph McCarthy. Think of the New Left. Think of [George] McGovern. Think of [Ronald] Reagan. Think of George Wallace. We've had an awful lot of real extremism on both wings.