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"So I think that we're in a very heightened and somewhat unusual period of politics and polling around the countries that New Zealanders take close interest in."
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"Politicians look for interests not people."
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Personal Development
"When men reject reason, they have no means left for dealing with one another - except brute, physical force."
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"Experience is in the fingers and the head. The heart is inexperienced."
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"And they that rule in England, in stately conclaves met, alas, alas for England they have no graves as yet."
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"I believe the term is 'eminent domain.'Ah, yes. That means 'theft by the government."
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"There is no single truth in a world ruled by many political parties."
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"Political or military commentators, like astrologers, can survive almost any mistake, because their more devoted followers do not look to them for an appraisal of the facts but for the stimulation of nationalistic loyalties."
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"Democracy is good, but it is not good for an uneducated dogmatic society. Often, that society does not know how to choose wisely."
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"If you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it."
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"Majority wins, but majority is not necessarily right and sometimes majority is awfully wrong."
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"I mean you really can target your answers to get the instant response and I think that is a very manipulative type of polling. I really have no time for that worm at all."
Time
"Nigel might have an earlier date, but I think it's unprecedented from my memory. So it is a reminder to everybody that the public can move very rapidly on some issues and therefore what looks settled may not be."
Change
"I think we have a fascinating new and quite dominant input into politics - and it wont go away. From time to time, people articulate a view that we should ban opinion polls, but that's nonsense."
Politics
"And I think the rolling polls put more pressure on them to sustain their beliefs and to improve their delivery of the policy and their delivery of the ideas so that they can garner support for whatever principle they're articulating."
Policy
"So to that extent that was a very sharp reminder a few months out from the election that we weren't performing in the eyes of the public to the level that they wanted if they were going to re-elect us. So we went out and were much more upfront on issues."
Communication
"Politicians, no matter who they are, shouldn't be able to manipulate the public on a single issue and then call an election at the height of support - that's a little bit of a manipulation of democracy."
Democracy
"I'm much more attracted personally to governments going their full term. It's very hard to have a fixed term election I know with ah... a parliamentary democracy, but I've always had an instinct to say there should be a fixed term."
Democracy
"So I think that we're in a very heightened and somewhat unusual period of politics and polling around the countries that New Zealanders take close interest in."
Politics
"And if you're getting a poll coming out month after month saying something and then all of a sudden does an enormous swing in one direction - you are dealing with a more volatile electorate than most people believe they have."
People
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