Politics & Power Quote by Franklin P. Adams

Democracy, Adams implies, runs less on hope than on irritation. The line lands because it punctures the civic fairy tale that elections are grand affirmations of public virtue. Instead, he frames voting as a negative art: a practical coalition of "no" rather than a ringing "yes". That twist is the engine of the quote's wit. It sounds like a small observation, but it’s a structural critique: if most ballots are anti-someone, campaigns will naturally optimize for fear, resentment, and the strategic lowering of expectations.

Adams was a journalist in the early 20th-century American press ecosystem, when mass newspapers, machine politics, and modern advertising were tightening their grip. Read in that context, the quote isn’t cynicism for its own sake; it’s a newsroom diagnosis. Politics becomes less about building a compelling program than about manufacturing an unacceptable alternative. The subtext is that “choice” can be real and still be degraded: elections are legitimate, yet the emotional fuel is often disgust, suspicion, or exhaustion.

The phrasing matters. "Chiefly" keeps it from becoming a cheap insult to voters; it’s a measured claim, not a tantrum. "Somebody rather than for somebody" is blunt and personal, hinting that politics is increasingly candidate-centered, driven by character narratives and scandals more than ideology. Adams is also warning candidates: be inspiring if you can, but understand the electorate’s most reliable lever is opposition. If you’re counting on love, you’re probably underestimating the power of contempt.