Pat Buchanan Quotes

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About Pat Buchanan

Patrick J. Buchanan, born on November 2, 1938, in Bowie, Maryland, is an American political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, and three-time presidential candidate. He spent the early part of his career working as a reporter for newspapers such as The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, The Chicago Tribune, and The New York Herald Tribune before moving to television journalism. Buchanan's political views were heavily influenced by his family background; his father, John Buchanan, was an assistant U.S. Attorney General under President Dwight Eisenhower, and his maternal grandfather, George Harvey, was a key figure in the Democratic Party. Buchanan served as a speechwriter for four Republican presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. In 1982, he published "Right from the Beginning," his first book that explored the roots of modern conservatism. In 1987, Buchanan ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination. His most influential work, "A Republic, Not an Empire," was published in 1999 and outlined his vision for a return to constitutional government and non-interventionist foreign policy. Buchanan made headlines again with his second run for president in 1992 and a third bid in 1996. His campaigns focused on protectionism, America First foreign policy, and social conservatism, which resonated with many but were ultimately overshadowed by more mainstream candidates. Since leaving politics, Buchanan has continued to write and commentate on current events. He currently hosts the political talk show "The Patrick Buchanan Show" and contributes to numerous publications and networks such as The American Conservative and MSNBC. Buchanan's work continues to shape discussions around politics, economics, and foreign policy in America.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I suppose I am a xenophobe. But I don't think it is a dirty word."

This quote reflects Pat Buchanan's perspective on national identity and cultural preservation. By stating that he considers himself a "xenophobe," he admits to having apprehension or fear towards foreigners, which is the root definition of xenophobia. However, his qualification that it isn't a "dirty word" suggests that he believes this sentiment is justified and not inherently negative in his context. This perspective implies a strong defense of cultural preservation and national identity, as he might see immigration or cultural assimilation as potentially threatening these values.


"The American people are not governed; they are ruled."

This quote by Pat Buchanan suggests that there's a power imbalance in America, where the government or ruling elite is dominating rather than serving the interests of the people. It implies a sense of dissatisfaction with democratic processes, suggesting that the will of the American people may not always be reflected in their governance. This perspective underscores concerns about representative democracy and highlights the importance of accountability, transparency, and responsiveness from government to its citizens.


"Culture is the tree of a nation, and he who waters its roots will long enjoy its shade."

This quote suggests that culture plays a crucial role in defining a nation's identity, much like a tree defines its surroundings with its roots, trunk, branches, and foliage. A nation's culture is its foundation and lifeblood, shaping its values, traditions, and overall character. Therefore, those who nurture and protect their cultural heritage will reap the benefits of its richness and diversity in the form of a strong sense of identity and shared history, providing shelter and comfort for generations to come.


"There is no more powerful agent in the world today than the American people when they decide to act."

This quote emphasizes the immense influence and power held by the collective will of the American people. It suggests that when the American people unite, mobilize, and choose to take action on an issue, there is no force more potent in the world today. This underscores the importance of civic engagement, collective decision-making, and the democratic process in shaping global events.


"The American people have spoken. The debate is over."

This quote by Pat Buchanan implies that, in a specific context, the American public has made a decisive choice or reached a conclusion on a particular issue, thereby ending any further discussion or debate about it. Buchanan uses this statement to emphasize the power of the democratic process, where the voice of the people holds sway and sets the direction for policy decisions.


The American tradition of Washington and Hamilton and Madison and Lincoln and TR and Pat Buchanan is of economic nationalism - making America an independent, self-sufficient, sovereign forever country that's able to stand on its own feet.

- Pat Buchanan

Feet, Country, Pat, Self-Sufficient

Many Muslims put their Islamic faith ahead of their national identity and forbid preachers from other religions from coming into their countries to convert their young. Apostasy is treason to Allah. Heresy has no rights.

- Pat Buchanan

Young, Allah, Other, Islamic

If the Islamic world is so suffused with rage and hatred of us - for our wars, occupations, drone attacks, support of Israel, decadent culture, and tolerance of insults to Islam and the Prophet - why should we call for free elections, when the people will use those elections to vote into power rulers hostile to the United States?

- Pat Buchanan

United, Use, Hostile, Islamic

Stop exporting American jobs. Stop exporting American factories, and stop exporting American sovereignty and independence to global institutions like the World Trade Organization.

- Pat Buchanan

American, Like, Jobs, Exporting

President Trump's seeming renunciation of an anti-interventionist foreign policy is the great surprise of the first 100 days, and the most ominous. For any new war could vitiate the Trump mandate and consume his presidency.

- Pat Buchanan

Surprise, New, Seeming, Foreign

Secularist justices de-Christianized our country. They invented new rights for vicious criminals as though criminal justice were a game. They tore our country apart with idiotic busing orders to achieve racial balance in public schools.

- Pat Buchanan

Game, Country, Achieve, Vicious

With homosexual marriage gaining converts among the young, the party of the Moral Majority declines to stand with Chick-fil-A.

- Pat Buchanan

Marriage, Young, Gaining, Converts

If there is a horrific attack on this country like 9/11, the American people will demand we go to war and settle accounts with those who did it. But America's appetite for intervention, for nation building, for democracy crusades, is fully sated.

- Pat Buchanan

Settle, Country, Nation, Appetite

While our corporatists burn incense at the shrine of the global economy, Trump went to visit the working-class casualties. And those forgotten Americans in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin responded.

- Pat Buchanan

Wisconsin, Working-Class, Pennsylvania

The GOP's insoluble problem is that the multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual country they created with their open borders appears not to like the brand of dog food the party sells.

- Pat Buchanan

Country, Like, Borders, Dog Food

Beijing cannot sit by and let her North Korean ally be bombed, nor can it allow U.S. and South Korean forces to defeat the North, bring down the regime, and unite the peninsula, with U.S. and South Korean soldiers sitting on the Yalu, as they did in 1950 before Mao ordered his Chinese army into Korea.

- Pat Buchanan

Unite, Allow, South, Bombed

Herbert Hoover failed through no fault of his own. The Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression were beyond his control, and every remedy he tried failed adequately to work.

- Pat Buchanan

Work, Through, Adequately, Remedy

Historically, the Balkans have been an incubator of war.

- Pat Buchanan

Been, Balkans, Incubator, Historically

How does one leave Social Security and Medicare untouched, grow defense by more than $50 billion, slash taxes, launch a $1 trillion infrastructure program - and not explode the deficit and national debt?

- Pat Buchanan

Taxes, Untouched, Program, Social Security

The Republican Party of Richard Nixon was called to power in 1968 to bring an honorable end to the war in Vietnam and restore law and order to campuses and cities convulsed by crime, riots and racial violence. Nixon appeared to have succeeded and was rewarded with a 49-state landslide.

- Pat Buchanan

Republican Party, Nixon, Riots

On right-to-life, see the Republicans flee from Todd Akin, who committed a gaffe while restating his support for what has been a plank of the Republican platform since 1980.

- Pat Buchanan

Committed, Been, Republicans, Plank

What would be the political benefits to Obama of an amnesty? It could weld Hispanics to the Democratic Party, would be wildly popular with the ideological and Christian Left, and quietly welcomed by those Chamber-of-Commerce Republicans who have silently supported amnesty and secretly want immigration off the table in 2016.

- Pat Buchanan

Benefits, Republicans, Obama, Hispanics

The Democrats' drive to defeat Neil Gorsuch is the latest battle in a 50-year war for control of the Supreme Court - a war that began with a conspiracy against Richard Nixon by Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justice Abe Fortas and Lyndon Johnson.

- Pat Buchanan

Against, Nixon, Lyndon, Chief Justice

He rejects the New World Order established at the Cold War's end by the United States. Putin puts Russia first.

- Pat Buchanan

United States, Established, Putin

Putin could no more survive returning Crimea to Ukraine than Bibi Netanyahu could survive giving East Jerusalem back to Jordan.

- Pat Buchanan

Survive, Could, Netanyahu, Putin

If Trump's talking to Putin can help end the bloodshed in Ukraine or Syria, it would appear to be at least as ethical an act as pulpiteering about our moral superiority on the Sunday talk shows.

- Pat Buchanan

Superiority, Trump, Least, Putin

Candidate Trump held out his hand to Vladimir Putin. He rejected further U.S. intervention in Syria other than to smash ISIS.

- Pat Buchanan

Other, Trump, Held, None

The bipolar world of the Cold War is history. The new world order, however, is not the One World dreamed of by Wilsonian idealists. It is a Balkanizing world where race, tribe, culture and creed matter most, and democracy is seen not as an end in itself but as a means to an end - the accretion of power by one's own kind to achieve one's own dreams.

- Pat Buchanan

Own, Achieve, However, New World

Whatever they did for democracy, the U.S. interventions in the Middle East and the vaunted Arab Spring have proved to be pure hell for Arab Christians.

- Pat Buchanan

Middle, Pure, Christians, Arab Spring

Bush II's democracy crusade and Obama's embrace of the Arab Spring have unleashed and empowered forces less receptive to America's wishes and will than the despots and dictators deposed with our approval.

- Pat Buchanan

Embrace, Will, Crusade, Arab Spring

As polarized as we have been, we Americans are locked in a cultural war for the soul of our country.

- Pat Buchanan

Country, Cultural, Been, Locked

Russia and China, which have embraced autocratic capitalism, have attracted admirers and emulators by the seeming success of their strongman rule.

- Pat Buchanan

Rule, Which, Seeming, Autocratic

Turkey, a powerful and reliable ally of the U.S. through the Cold War, appears to be coming unmoored from Europe and the West and is becoming increasingly sectarian, autocratic, and nationalistic.

- Pat Buchanan

War, Through, Increasingly, Autocratic

Why should Americans on the DMZ be among the first to die in a second Korean War? Should the North attack the South, could we not honor our treaty obligations with air and naval power offshore?

- Pat Buchanan

Die, Could, South, Korean

From America's schools, religion has been relentlessly purged. No prayers, no Bibles, no Christian symbols, no Ten Commandments.

- Pat Buchanan

Ten Commandments, Been, Purged

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