If pigs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A metaphor suggests that feeding people (pigs) leads to electing the feeder, even if he harms them.
- In plain terms
- People vote for those who feed them, even if those people are bad.
- What can you take from it?
- Populism can reward harmful leaders.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who do you vote for?
- What drives voters?
Another view
Voters often seek more than just food.
More from Orson Scott Card
Her action ... meant one thing to him and something quite different to her; it was so different that it was not even the same event.
Permalink to quote #1071 Isn't that the sweetest little well-balanced undergraduate-level philosophy of life. -Children of the Mind
Permalink to quote #1073 I've lived too long with pain. I won't know who I am without it. -Ender's Game
Permalink to quote #1070
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