John Avlon quotes

If you only take offense when the president of your party is compared to Hitler, then you're part of the problem. (John Avlon)
Politics follows the lines of physics: every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. View quote
John Avlon
Demagogues always do well in economic downturns. View quote
John Avlon
Politics is history in the present tense. View quote
John Avlon
Terrorism is always one bad day away from being issue No. 1. View quote
John Avlon
The far-right and far-left can be equally insane. View quote
John Avlon
Extremes are ultimately their own side's worst enemy. View quote
John Avlon
First, I think more Americans need to declare their independence from partisan politics on both sides. The more that Americans declare their independence, the more the parties will have to compete for their votes using reason rather than the hateful appeals. View quote
John Avlon
When people tap into this politics of resentment, it usually ends ugly. View quote
John Avlon
Professional partisans are still playing politics by industrial-age rules. They haven't woken up to the information-age reality. Younger generations have grown up with a multiplicity of choice on every front, which can be tailored to suit their individual beliefs. Politics is the last place where we are supposed to be satisfied with a choice between Brand A and Brand B. View quote
John Avlon
The independence of our nation is inseparable from our interdependence as a people. (John Avlon)
A wingnut is someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum - the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They're the people who always try to divide rather than unite us. View quote
John Avlon
I'm an independent. I'm a centrist. A new generation is arriving that has grown up with a multiplicity of choice in every aspect of their lives, and yet politics is the last place that they are told that they should be satisfied with a choice between brand A and brand B. It doesn't fit the way they think. It doesn't fit the way they live. View quote
John Avlon
What's different now is that while political leaders used to give talking points to talk radio, now talk-radio hosts are giving talking points to political leaders. It's all part of the suffocating spin cycle we're in. In media, politics and publishing, the conventional wisdom is to play to this base. View quote
John Avlon
What might be good for ratings can be bad for the country. The hard-core partisans are self-segregating themselves into separate political realities. But the majority of Americans are starting to wake up to the game. View quote
John Avlon
One tell-tale sign of a Wingnut: they always confuse partisanship with patriotism. View quote
John Avlon
We need to punch back against the extremes of both the left and the right and define the terms of the debate ourselves. View quote
John Avlon
I believe that the far-right and the far-left can be equally insane - but there's no question that in the first years of the Obama administration, the far-right has been far crazier. In part, this comes from parties being out of power - without the responsibility of governing to ground them, the activists and the ideologues take over. View quote
John Avlon
The American people are smart. They've gotten sick of the predictable hyperpartisan talking points and canned anger. View quote
John Avlon
The two parties are still more polarized than ever before and the rise of partisan media is an important reason for it. View quote
John Avlon
Right now, politics follows the rules of talk radio - using conflict, tension, fear, and resentment to find new recruits. (John Avlon)
It's important to remember that Bush Derangement Syndrome on the left - comparing him to Hitler, calling him a terrorist and a tyrant - preceded Obama Derangement Syndrome on the right. View quote
John Avlon
Us and against them is the opposite of our national motto, e pluribus unum: Out of many, one. View quote
John Avlon