#elections

This historic general election, which showed that the British are well able to distinguish between patriotism and Toryism, brought Clement Attlee to the prime ministership. In the succeeding five years, Labor inaugurated the National Health Service, the first and boldest experiment in socialized medicine. It took into public ownership all the vital (and bankrupted) utilities of the coal, gas, electricity and railway industries. It even nibbled at the fiefdoms and baronies of private steel, air transport and trucking. It negotiated the long overdue independence of India. It did all this, in a country bled white by the World War and subject to all manner of unpopular rationing and controls, without losing a single midterm by-election (a standard not equaled by any government of any party since). And it was returned to office at the end of a crowded term. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#british-people #clement-attlee #elections #india #indian-independence-act-

The Iraqi elections were an important first step. ↗

— Brent Scowcroft

#first #first step #important #iraqi #step

The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. ↗

— Douglas Adams

#hg #want

The U.S. views Morocco as an important friend, and we applaud your political and economic reforms that culminated with the recent parliamentary elections that were widely reported to have been conducted in a fair and open manner. ↗

— Donald Evans

#been #conducted #economic #elections #fair

They appear to have had a higher voter turnout in Iraq than we did in our recent federal elections, and we didn't have terrorists threatening to kill our families if we voted. ↗

— Conrad Burns

#did #elections #families #federal #had

The candidates before you know that the IFP has set up a system of deployed IFP national and provincial leaders who are not only monitoring the performance of candidates during these elections but will also do so after these elections. ↗

— Mangosuthu Buthelezi

#also #before #candidates #deployed #during

Lebanon is restless, Syria got its walking papers, Egypt is scheduling elections with more than one candidate, and even Saudi Arabia, whose rulers are perhaps more terrified of women than rulers anywhere else in the world, allowed limited municipal elections. ↗

— Suzanne Fields

#anywhere #arabia #candidate #egypt #elections

The big secret to winning elections is to get more votes than your opponent. My friend Representative Robin Hayes is a good example to study. ↗

— Jesse Helms

#big secret #elections #example #friend #get

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates. ↗

— Gore Vidal

#apparently #candidates #cost #democracy #elections

The United Nations has no business in our elections. ↗

— David Vitter

#elections #nations #our #united #united nations