Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will fill it with fear.
Naomi KleinRead
Those looking for ideology in the White House should consider this: For the men who rule our world, rules are for other people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the hypocrisy of leaders who impose rules on others while not adhering to them themselves.
Naomi Klein's quote critiques the disconnect between those in power and the general populace. It suggests that while leaders may advocate for various ideologies or rules, they often do not follow these rules personally, indicating a significant moral and ethical divide in governance versus the lived experience of ordinary people. This exposes a troubling reality where the powerful operate under a different set of standards than those they expect from the citizens they govern.
Themes
IdeologyPowerHypocrisyGovernanceLeadership
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one might reference this quote to discuss the ethics of leadership.
More from Naomi Klein
All quotes βBecause it is such a huge crisis, because it puts us on a firm science-based deadline, it's a once-in-a-century opportunity to build a better society and address raging inequality, create huge numbers of jobs, rebuild our public infrastructure. But, we can't do it unless we break every single rule in the free-market playbook. Which is why the worst people in the world all deny climate change.
Naomi KleinRead
Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every other issue off the political map. The spectre of terrorism - real and exaggerated - has become a shield of impunity, protecting governments around the world from scrutiny for their human rights abuses.
Naomi KleinRead
Everybody that's trying to get anything progressive done in this country knows that the biggest barrier is getting money out of politics.
Naomi KleinRead
I think I would say that there is absolutely no way to reconcile an austerity agenda with climate action. Our political class needs to understand that the fight against austerity and the fight for climate action are the same fight.
Naomi KleinRead
I think the fossil fuel industry is genuinely freaked out by the combination of the price collapse, the divestment movement, and that fact that renewable energy is getting so cheap so fast.
Naomi KleinRead
Similar quotes
Experience shows that when political governance and economic management diverge, overall development becomes unsustainable.
Mo IbrahimRead
Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Zbigniew BrzezinskiRead
Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans - working families, children, the elderly, the poor - or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question.
Bernie SandersRead
It's the Labour Government that have brought us record peacetime taxation. They've got the usual Socialist disease - they've run out of other people's money.
Margaret ThatcherRead
I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine - not Russia - attacked us in 2016.
Fiona HillRead
The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly Saddam can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.
Condoleezza RiceRead