Football strategy does not originate in a scrimmage: it is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign.
Walter LippmannRead
We must abandon the notion that the people govern. Instead, we must adopt the theory that, by their occasional mobilisations as a majority, people support or oppose the individuals who actually govern.
Interpretation
The idea of people governing themselves is misleading; rather, they influence governance through their collective actions.
In this quote, Walter Lippmann suggests that the common belief in direct democracy—where the people are seen to govern—is a misconception. Instead, he argues that the public plays a more passive role, primarily expressing their support or opposition to leaders through occasional voting or mobilization, indicating that true governance lies more in the hands of a few individuals rather than the populace at large.
In practice
During a political debate, one could reference this quote to highlight the complexities of democratic governance.
Football strategy does not originate in a scrimmage: it is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign.
The simple opposition between the people and big business has disappeared because the people themselves have become so deeply involved in big business.
The news and the truth are not the same thing.
There is nothing so bad but it can masquerade as moral.
The tendency of the casual mind is to pick out or stumble upon a sample which supports or defies its prejudices, and then to make it the representative of a whole class.
The private citizen, beset by partisan appeals for the loan of his Public Opinion, will soon see, perhaps, that these appeals are not a compliment to his intelligence, but an imposition on his good nature and an insult to his sense of evidence.
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
Tax policy should reflect a country's values and address its problems.
The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.
Anti-Americanism is often the product of limits on free speech, education systems that promote bias and the practice of some leaders of saying one thing abroad and the opposite at home.
I think the truth is that the Labour Party isn't believed any more because people suspect it will say anything to get votes. The rebuilding of some radical alternatives to Thatcherism - and by that I mean all-party Thatcherism - will require us to do some very difficult things
Government isn't there just to administer life support to failing markets. Without the government, many of those markets would not even exist.
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