Politics & Power Quote by Jack L. Chalker

Self-deprecation as credential: Chalker opens by announcing not triumph but a paper trail of losing. The line is built like a resume bullet point and then punctured by the adjective that matters, "unsuccessful". That one word flips political identity from tribal banner to punchline, and it does so without apologizing. He is a "registered Democrat" (a bureaucratic fact, not a crusade), and a "two-time" candidate (persistent enough to try again), yet the ultimate takeaway is defeat. The humor is dry, almost procedural, as if the only honest way to talk about politics is to admit how little glamour it contains.

The specific intent feels less like confessional comedy than preemptive disarming. By calling himself unsuccessful, Chalker strips critics of the easiest weapon: you cannot mock a failure who has already framed the failure as information. It also suggests a writer's instinct for narrative control. He chooses the angle: not "public servant", not "activist", but the guy who ran and lost twice, which implies a clear-eyed understanding of how politics chews up ambition and hands it back as anecdote.

Context matters: a science-fiction and fantasy author staking a modest, almost weary claim to civic engagement. The subtext is that politics is not a heroic side quest; it's paperwork, campaigning, and rejection. Yet trying twice hints at stubborn idealism beneath the shrug. He isn't renouncing the game so much as admitting he never got the costume.