If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference,' you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
Joseph StalinRead
The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
Interpretation
Elections are influenced more by those who tally the votes than by those who cast them.
This quote by Joseph Stalin highlights the critical importance of the vote counting process in determining election outcomes. It suggests that the power to sway results lies not just in the act of voting, but fundamentally in who has the control and authority over the counting process, emphasizing potential manipulation or control behind the scenes in electoral politics.
In practice
During a debate on electoral integrity, one might use this quote.
If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference,' you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how.
The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.
It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Red Army.
The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.
I believe that Brazil was prepared to elect a woman. Why? Because Brazilian women achieved that. I didn't come here by myself, by my own merits. We are a majority here in this country.
It's time for political leaders across the ideological spectrum to realize that, while partisanship is understandable, hyper-partisanship is destructive to our country. We need more visionary leaders who will earnestly strive for bipartisanship and finding policy solutions that can move America forward.
Socialism in Russia has not brought about an improvement in the conditions of the average man which can be compared with the improvement of conditions, during the same period, in the United States.
The genius of impeachment lay in the fact that it could punish the man without punishing the office.
The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights.
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