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About this quote

What does it mean?
Political outcomes usually result from deliberate planning rather than random chance.
In plain terms
Everything in politics is planned on accident.
What can you take from it?
Assume political events are intentional when analyzing them.

Where it applies

  • analyzing news
  • studying policy
  • tracking campaigns

Putting it to work

  • look for motives
  • trace decision paths
  • question randomness

Questions to consider

  • Did they mean this to happen?
  • Who benefits from this event?

Another view

Some outcomes truly are accidental or unintentional.

More from Franklin Delano Roosevelt

  1. There are as many opinions as there are experts.

    Permalink to quote #70

  2. The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.

    Permalink to quote #69

  3. Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

    Permalink to quote #68

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