Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.
Paul KrugmanRead
The goal in the end is not to win elections. The goal is to change society.
Interpretation
Winning elections is not the ultimate objective; rather, the real aim is to bring about societal transformation.
Paul Krugman's quote emphasizes that the true measure of success in politics is not merely securing electoral victories but instead instigating meaningful changes within society. It challenges the conventional view that winning is the primary goal, advocating for deeper societal impact as the ultimate aim of political engagement.
In practice
In a speech about civic engagement, one might quote Krugman to inspire more profound action.
Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.
Our popular economics writers, however, are not in the business of giving their readers a ringside seat on the research action; with no exception I can think of, they use their books to do an end run around the normal structure of scholarship, to preach ideas that few serious economists share. Often, these ideas are not just at odds with the professional consensus; they are demonstrably wrong, and sometimes terminally silly. But they sound good to the unwary reader.
The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century ... has taken place via globalization.
Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.
It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.
The economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.
I would be excited if we could reimagine workplaces that start from a premise that women are going to be a central part: Women are going to bear children, people are going to raise those children, and it's not going to be a nuisance - it's actually going to be understood as part of the deal.
Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.
It is hard to let old beliefs go. They are familiar. We are comfortable with them and have spent years building systems and developing habits that depend on them. Like a man who has worn eyeglasses so long that he forgets he has them on, we forget that the world looks to us the way it does because we have become used to seeing it that way through a particular set of lenses. Today, however, we need new lenses. And we need to throw the old ones away.
Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.
From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.
Not to wax nostalgic about the 1970s, but back then people got upset when they saw injustice. They got tired of seeing our air, land and water polluted. They were shocked when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was polluted so badly it caught fire. And on one great day 20 million Americans marched all across this land. Politicians had no choice but to take notice.
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