"If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it"
About this Quote
Buchwald’s line lands because it flatters the rebel and skewers him in the same breath. It’s a joke with teeth: the “establishment” isn’t just a fortress you storm; it’s a machine that survives by absorbing threats, rebranding them as proof of its openness, then selling the rebellion back to the public as a safe, credentialed product.
The intent is less motivational than diagnostic. Buchwald is warning that sustained dissent can become a career path. Once you’re useful - as a critic with an audience, a provocateur who signals “we allow dissent here” - the gatekeepers stop trying to silence you and start trying to hire you, invite you, quote you, award you. Your critique becomes a kind of institutional weather report: spicy enough to feel bracing, predictable enough to be harmless.
The subtext is also about temptation. Becoming “a member of it” isn’t only something done to you; it’s something you accept because it comes with status, stability, and access. You get the panel seat, the fellowship, the column, the speaking fee. The satire lies in the reversal: the longer you keep swinging, the more you risk being mistaken for - or turning into - part of the architecture you’re punching.
Context matters: Buchwald wrote inside the Beltway ecosystem he teased, a world where politicians, press, and prestige circulate at the same parties. His wit is insider wit, which is exactly why it works: it’s delivered from within the very process of co-optation he’s describing.
The intent is less motivational than diagnostic. Buchwald is warning that sustained dissent can become a career path. Once you’re useful - as a critic with an audience, a provocateur who signals “we allow dissent here” - the gatekeepers stop trying to silence you and start trying to hire you, invite you, quote you, award you. Your critique becomes a kind of institutional weather report: spicy enough to feel bracing, predictable enough to be harmless.
The subtext is also about temptation. Becoming “a member of it” isn’t only something done to you; it’s something you accept because it comes with status, stability, and access. You get the panel seat, the fellowship, the column, the speaking fee. The satire lies in the reversal: the longer you keep swinging, the more you risk being mistaken for - or turning into - part of the architecture you’re punching.
Context matters: Buchwald wrote inside the Beltway ecosystem he teased, a world where politicians, press, and prestige circulate at the same parties. His wit is insider wit, which is exactly why it works: it’s delivered from within the very process of co-optation he’s describing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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