Money in Politics Quotes
- The page contains money quotes related to money in politics from various politicians, activists, and commentators
- Many of the quotes criticize the influence of money in politics and argue it undermines democracy
- Several quotes reference the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and argue it has increased the role of money in politics
- Some money quotes note the amount of time politicians spend fundraising rather than governing
- A few quotes suggest money in politics benefits the wealthy and corporations more than average citizens
- The page aims to highlight different perspectives on the role of money in American politics and government
“Money is the mother’s milk of politics” — Jesse Unruh
“Nothing seems to tame the power of money in politics” — Bill Moyers
“Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other” — Oscar Ameringer
“We’re launching a campaign to highlight how courts — with help from Sen. McConnell & Senate GOP — have been captured by dark money. There’s a twisted web of dark money invested to plant ideological activist judges & rewrite the Constitution” — Chuck Schumer
“If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you”
— Mick Mulvaney
Milt Prigee, Oak Harbor WA
People buy into my agenda, and I do support the Second Amendment. There’s money on both sides of every issue in America, I will always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda
— Marco Rubio
I’m going to start off by putting this price tag right here just to remind you guys just how much Marco Rubio took for every student’s life in Florida: one dollar and five cents
— David Hogg
“We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
“It’s kind of an ante to get in the door with somebody. It’s not necessary, but it certainly helps if you’ve given money to the person you’re calling and trying to get an appointment with to talk about a piece of legislation” — Tom Davis
“The ultimate value of transparency is that voters get to see who is for you and who is against you and what their investment is. It makes it so they get to see who owns you” — Tom Davis
“Shine a light on this shameful Trumpcare bill and reveal to the public the GOP’s true intentions: to give the uber-wealthy a tax break while making middle class Americans pay more for less healthcare coverage” — Chuck Schumer
Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
“If you give money to people who don’t have it, it corrupts them. But if you give it to people who are already rich, they have a money immunity built up already. Handouts don’t hurt them” — Jon Stewart
“If it’s a policy that benefits the rich, then it doesn’t have to be paid for, should last forever and is good for America, But if it benefits the poor, we can’t afford it, should end it as soon as possible and it will destroy our nation from within” — Jon Stewart
“Seven years ago, five justices overturned two centuries of jurisprudence to determine that private business corporations enjoy the political free speech rights of the people. Today after hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money have been spent by CEOs in the name of their unwitting shareholders and billionaires act as our new political bosses and cabinet secretaries, we can see what plutocracy looks like” — Jamie Raskin
“7 years after Citizens United, Donald Trump is giving millionaires and billionaires direct control over our democracy” — John Sarbanes
Prop 59 passed in California to overturn Citizens United by 52.9% vote.
“Big corporations and the richest 1% of Americans have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Washington, purchasing enormous political influence and drowning out the voice of average Americans” — Robert Reich
“If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech” — Move to Amend
I’m against very wealthy people … influencing elections, But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it” — Sheldon Adelson
“It’s unfortunate that we have the decision Citizens United, but as long as that’s the law of the land, then Democrats and Republicans are both active in these kinds of endeavors” — Tony Podesta
“The reasons aren’t my good looks and charm. It’s my pocket personality” — Sheldon Adelson
BUY A VOWEL
B-I-G M-O-N-E-Y! "Wheel of Fortune" is this election's most important TV show https://t.co/8L3FTvMsnG pic.twitter.com/fkUYgvSM8m
— Bloomberg (@business) March 24, 2016
“We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families and hidden interests can’t bankroll our elections — and if our existing approach to campaign finance can’t pass muster in the courts, we need to work together to find a real solution” — Barack Obama
“Money and Corruption Are ruining the land Crooked politicians Betray the working man Pocketing the profits And treating us like sheep And we’re tired of hearing promises That we know they’ll never keep” — The Kinks
“Concentration of wealth yields concentration of power, particularly so as the cost of elections skyrockets, which kind of forces the political parties into the pockets of major corporations” — Noam Chomsky
“75% of Americans in 2014 believed the federal government is corrupt. According to a New York Times and CBS News poll in May, 84% think money has too much power in our system. That same poll found 85% of respondents support fundamentally changing or completely rebuilding our current system of financing campaigns. About two-thirds think our politics is dysfunctional, according to a September Washington Post/ABC News poll”
“70% of Americans are angry and frustrated because our political system seems to only be working for insiders with money and power” — Alan Simpson (former Republican U.S. Senator from Wyoming)
“Politics is a damn expensive business. I had one hell of a time trying to raise money as a candidate. I had to put a second mortgage on our house to get that campaign started, and I ended up spending over $300,000 to get elected” — Joe Biden
“It is the most degrading thing in the world to go out with your hat in your hand and beg for money, but that’s what you have to do if you haven’t got your own resources” — Joe Biden
“There’s just very little return on media dollars anymore in politics because people just don’t believe political advertising. They’re just demanding authenticity and something that they think is real, and they know that advertising is not real. So those are – you might as well just burn that money. It’d be a better investment” — Mark McKinnon
“When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy” — Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page
“This isn’t ‘Shark Tank’ This is your democracy. But as the bidding grows higher, your voice gets lower. You’re simply priced out of the marketplace of ideas. That is, unless you are one of the ultra wealthy” — Steve Israel
Bill Day – CagleCartoons.com
“Washington is like a strip club. You’ve got people tossing dollars, and people doing the dance” — Mike Huckabee
“Let only individuals contribute — with sensible limits per election. Otherwise, we are well on our way to ensuring that a government of the moneyed, by the moneyed, and for the moneyed shall not perish from the earth” — Warren Buffett
“Hey, a handful of billionaires can’t buy our elections, right? Of course not! They can only pour unlimited anonymous cash into a 501(c)(4) if 50% is devoted to issue education. Otherwise they’d have to 501(c)(6) it or funnel it openly through a non-campaign coordinated super PAC” — Jon Stewart
“I will tell you that our system is broken. I give to many people, I give to everybody, when they call I give, and you know what? When I need something from them, two years, three years later, I call, they are there for me” — Donald Trump
Free Speech by Daryl Cagle – CagelCartoons.com 3-2001
“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men” — John Adams
“Bribes are not offered in such a way that you can prove them, and in order to prove that I didn’t accept a bribe, I had to run” — Jeannette Rankin
Elected to Congress from Wyoming in 1916 and helped pass the 19th Amendment, to give women the right to vote
“Each time a lobbyist or special interest makes a political contribution to a public servant, a debt is created. Lobbyists are very adept at collecting these debts. Unfortunately, the true debtor on these obligations is the American people” — Jack Abramoff
“American families don’t need another president tied to big government or big money” — Rick Santorum
“We have a right — everyone has a right — to speech in this country. And as we all know, any kind of speech costs money in this country” — Carly Fiorina
![Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a [U.S.] Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target Quote](https://itsamoneything.com/money/wp-content/uploads/Patrick-Fitzgerald-Blogojevich-Sale-Senator-Pay-Play.jpg)
“Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a [U.S.] Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target” — Patrick Fitzgerald
![Brigid Harrison If everyone who took money in return for promising to do something if they were re-elected [was prosecuted], we wouldn't have anyone left in Congress quote]( https://itsamoneything.com/money/wp-content/uploads/Brigid-Harrison-Took-Money-Promising-Something-Re-Elected-Congress.jpg)
“If everyone who took money in return for promising to do something if they were re-elected [was prosecuted], we wouldn’t have anyone left in Congress” — Brigid Harrison
“You know they win their election, then they take one day off and then the next day they start fundraising. All they do is fundraise. They don’t really govern” — Donald Trump
“We have a green primary. We have a primary where those who fund campaigns get to pick the candidates that the rest of us get to vote among” — Lawrence Lessig
“In a time of polarized politics there’s one thing that more than ninety percent of Americans agree on, that our government is broken, and broken because of the money in politics” — Lawrence Lessig
“If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“Listen to me, America. They don’t care about you, because you don’t bring a check” — Buddy Roemer
Steve Sack
The Minneapolis Star Tribune
“My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican party. I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now, I simply concede the point. We expect a return on our investment” — Betsy DeVos
“Betsy DeVos, if you had not given $200 million to the Republican Party do you think you would be nominated to lead the Education Department?” — Bernie Sanders
“Do you know what ‘Paid for by’ really means? It means a billion dollars in the last election. Our government is filled with people who have been PAID FOR” — Jason Alexander
John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune
“History will show there is a very selfish game going on and our government has been largely put up for sale” — John Dingell
“Politics has become unbelievably and unfortunately way too much about how much money is involved rather than what kind of ideas are involved” — Mike Huckabee
“All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law” — Theodore Roosevelt 1905
“Let individuals contribute as they desire: but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly” — Theodore Roosevelt
#MoneyInPolitics #Quotes #MoneyQuote https://t.co/KgHLiQ6SKz #GetMoneyOut @MoneyQuote pic.twitter.com/1pwDIc53a8
— Money Quote (@MoneyQuote) December 7, 2014
“American families cannot compete with billionaires. Our involvement in government should not be dependent on our bank account balances” — Harry Reid
“You and I both know that as long as our representatives are held hostage to their funders — and their funders are not all of us — our system will not work” — Lawrence Lessig
“In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another” — Voltaire
The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy” — Theodore White
“A liberal is a man who is willing to spend somebody else’s money” — Carter Glass
“Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated” — Will Rogers
“We won’t get our democracy back until we change the way campaigns are funded” — Lawrence Lessig
“Change the system to get this shady money out of our democracy and restore the basic principles of one American, one vote” — Harry Reid
Why Congress is Corrupt: Answering to Funders | Infographic
“Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority” — James Madison
“Business is going to get the politicians they want because they control the money and money controls the power” — Rob Walton
Daryl Cagle of CagleCartoons.com
“In constant pursuit of money to finance campaigns, the political system is simply unable to function” — John Rawls
“When we have a congress free of big-money, a congress free to lead, we will fight to preserve the reforms we fought so hard to achieve through whatever amendments to the Constitution are necessary” — Lawrence Lessig
![[Congress] and their cronies secure more than one hundred billion dollars in corporate welfare Quote](https://itsamoneything.com/money/wp-content/uploads/Lawrence-Lessig-Congress-Corporate-Welfare.png)
“[Congress] and their cronies secure more than one hundred billion dollars in corporate welfare” — Lawrence Lessig
“It is time for us to insist that we are accountable for the money that we are spending” — Eric Cantor
Ed Wexler, Los Angeles, CA
“You now have the potential of 200 people deciding who ends up being elected president every single time” — Barack Obama
“Who are to be the electors of the Federal Representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor” — James Madison
I for one cannot wait to see who the Koch Brothers pick. Seriously, a billion dollars from just two guys! Is it just me or does that feel a little excessive? The Koch brothers think they need to spend a billion dollars to get folks to like one of these people” — Barack Obama
“The decisions of the Supreme Court have left the American people a status quo in which one side’s billionaires are pitted against the other side’s billionaires” — Harry Reid
“Right now Congress doesn’t answer to us, it answers to the elite few. Members of congress waste 30 to70 percent of their time raising money from the tiniest fraction of the one percent” — Lawrence Lessig
“I want to be an advocate for the people who don’t have time to read the newspaper… or the money to make a political contribution” — Richard J. Codey
“The only chance we’ve got is if those families will turn back to their government and say, ‘I demand that you work for me, not for the billionaires, not for the millionaires. That you work for me.’” — Elizabeth Warren
“Lobbyists and lawyers are lining up by the thousands to push for new laws — laws that will help their rich and powerful clients get richer and more powerful” — Elizabeth Warren
Political Cartoons: Washington introduces new Politician Contribution label law https://t.co/GDTNWJ0Qwp via @POLITICO pic.twitter.com/dH0exPptYU
— Money Quote (@MoneyQuote) August 9, 2014
“Any advertiser who comes in with a prepared ad and money to pay for it will be looked on with favor” — Jeff Stein
We are rapidly moving toward a nation of the super-rich, by the super-rich and for the super-rich
— Bernie Sanders
“Enterprises … aggregating vast corporate combinations of unexampled capital, boldly marching, not for economic conquests only but for political power” — Edward Ryan
“The obscene and increasing level of wealth and income inequality in this country is immoral, un-American and unsustainable” — Bernie Sanders
“We should be addressing income inequality, creating a jobs program, raising the minimum wage, passing pay equity for women and expanding social security” — Bernie Sanders
Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
“I think the Republican Party is accurately defined as a party that looks out for the interests of the very wealthy” — Bob Herbert
“We are opposed to private ownership of public officials, if elected, I will not put the ACM out of business. But I will put it out of politics” — Burton K. Wheeler
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” — Louis D. Brandeis
“There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can’t remember what the second one is” — Mark Hanna
“I’m here because the flood of dark money into our nation’s political system poses the greatest threat to our democracy that I have witnessed during my tenure in public service” — Harry Reid
“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought” — Simon Cameron
“The people who own the country ought to govern it” — John Jay
“Democracy appears chronically dysfunctional when it comes to policies that impinge on the rich” — Jeffrey A. Winters
“Money plays the largest part in determining the course of history” — Karl Marx
“Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them” — George Washington
John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri
“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation” — Napoleon Bonaparte
“All our material riches will avail us little if we do not use them to expand the opportunities of our people” — John F. Kennedy
“No social system will bring us happiness, health and prosperity unless it is inspired by something greater than materialism” — Clement R. Attlee
“Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain” — Napoleon Bonaparte
“Leslie Byrne, a Democrat from Virginia, was told by a colleague, ‘Always lean to the green’. … He was not an environmentalist” — Lawrence Lessig
Mike Keefe, Cagle Cartoons
“The money power denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes” — William Jennings Bryan
“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it’s issuance.” ― James Madison
“No man should be in public office who can’t make more money in private life” — Thomas Dewey
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators” — P. J. O’Rourke
Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News
“Well, the problem of the federal government is that they print money and go in debt. That’s their national policy, Democrats and Republicans it doesn’t matter. And this is where I differ” — Richard M. Daley
The national debt was only at $0 one time in history, beginning January 8, 1835 when President Andrew Jackson was able to keep the debt at zero for about a year.
“The way the system appeared to work to me was lady justice had the scales and you piled cash on the scales and the one who piled the most cash on the scales … that was the winner” — Troy Roush
“Congressional stock holders have a greater return on investment than the average American, Either they are geniuses on the stock market or they know something that we don’t. I suspect the latter” — Craig Holman
“Jack will spend any amount of money to buy votes but he balks at investing a thousand dollars in a beautiful painting” — Jackie Kennedy
“The safest course for public officials is simply to throw all of the money in a sack” — Dave Freudenthal
David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star
“The government deficit is the difference between the amount of money the government spends and the amount it has the nerve to collect” — Sam Ewing
“If Mr. Bush and Mr. Forbes don’t get most of the votes, they should be arrested for wasting money” — Lamar Alexander
“The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument” — Newt Gingrich
Pls discuss this letter from 30 cybersecurity experts and election integrity groups warning that cellular modems in (or even external to) tabulators (as in WI, FL, MI) must be removed/disabled before Nov. @nppd_krebs of DHS has replied that he WON’T help! https://t.co/NxAXjy4LLo
— Jennifer Cohn (@jennycohn1) October 7, 2018
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
As long as we’re still able to laugh at money in politics, video from ProPublica.
Bonus Quote from a fictional (Honest) character:
You deserve complete honesty so here it is, I don’t care about you. Unless you are a donor or a lobbyist who can write a big fat check the results that you get from voting for me… its negligible” – Honest Gil Fulbright
Money in Politics Quotes Board on Pinterest
2 Responses to “Money in Politics: Corruption” Comment RSS feed
[…] collection now runs to around 1500 money quotes on dozens of topics as diverse as love, art, music, politics, poverty and even a group of quotations from Warren […]
[…] importance of continued vigilance on the issue of corruption needs to be maintained. The website It’s A Money Thing published a post in which they assembled quotes from people about money in […]