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Democracy requires a certain relish for confusion

Molly Ivins

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Molly Ivins
Age: 62 †
Born: 1944
Born: August 30
Died: 2007
Died: January 31
Columnist
Journalist
Writer
Monterey
California
Confusion
Requires
Democracy
Certain
Relish
Orderly
Neat

More quotes by Molly Ivins

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Whenever you hear a politician carry on about what a mess the schools are, be aware that you are looking at the culprit.
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The first rule of holes: When you're in one stop digging.
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And the funny thing is, I've always been an optimist - it's practically a congenital disorder with me.
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I used to go on college campuses 25 years ago and announce I was a feminist, and people thought it meant I believed in free love and was available for a quick hop in the sack. ... Now I go on college campuses and say I'm a feminist, and half of them think it means I'm a lesbian. How'd we get from there to here without passing Go?
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What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.
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The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.
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You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.
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This is the man (Ronald Reagan) who proved that ignorance is no handicap to the presidency
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It's hard to argue against cynics - they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.
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As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you can't drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against 'em anyway, you don't belong in office.
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Sometimes I think Texas exists as a reality check for those who might wander too far toward the precious.
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We've had trickle down economics in the country for ten years now, and most of us aren't even damp yet.
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Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair’s-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother?
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I think provincialism is an endemic characteristic with mankind, I think everybody everywhere is provincial, but it is particularly striking with Texans, and we tend to be very Texcentric.
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I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying - it's watching them commit suicide that pisses me off.
Molly Ivins
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I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.
Molly Ivins
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Good thing we've still got politics in Texas - finest form of free entertainment ever invented.
Molly Ivins
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What stuns me most about contemporary politics is not even that the system has been so badly corrupted by money. It is that so few people get the connection between their lives and what the bozos do in Washington and our state capitols.
Molly Ivins
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Some days, I'd feel better with Punxsutawney Phil in the Oval Office - at least he doesn't lie about the weather.
Molly Ivins
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The advantage of being able to identify sin is that you can go out and do it, and enjoy it.
Molly Ivins