--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent…" description: "\"“Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years observing how wealthy interests gamed the policy-making apparatus in Washington, where he was a staf..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png" --- # Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years… ![“Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years observing how wealthy interests gamed the policy-making apparatus in Washington, where he was a staff member on the Senate Budget Committee, decried what he called the “secession” of the rich in which they “disconnect themselves from the civic life…” quote by Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png) > ““Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years observing how wealthy interests gamed the policy-making apparatus in Washington, where he was a staff member on the Senate Budget Committee, decried what he called the “secession” of the rich in which they “disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well-being except as a place to extract loot.”” [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Wealthy elites detach from civic responsibility, treating the nation as a resource to exploit. **In simple terms:** Rich people ignore public good, focusing on personal gain. Key Takeaway Promote policies that tie wealth to civic contribution. Themes inequality political capture civic disengagement wealth policy corruption Mood concerned determined Type analytical activist When to use this quote - campaign finance reform - public awareness - community organizing - legislative advocacy Key Concepts elite theory public goods social contract Questions to Reflect On - How can ordinary citizens reclaim influence? - What incentives could align wealth with public interest? A Different Perspective Addressing systemic power imbalances is complex. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Secession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secession/) ## Related quotes > [“the “secession” of the rich in which they “disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well-being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/the-secession-of-the-rich-in-which-they-disconnect-themselves-from/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [Many Afghan intellectuals in the United States believe that their country is best kept together. They are encouraged by the fact that no leading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-kinzer/many-afghan-intellectuals-in-the-united-states-believe-that-their/) [Stephen Kinzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-kinzer/) > [I can't say with certainty that slavery would have ended more quickly and more completely if the South had been allowed to leave and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-swanson/i-can-t-say-with-certainty-that-slavery-would-have-ended-more-quickly/) [David Swanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-swanson/) > [Some non-communist parties and CPPCC members have, at CPPCC meetings or in their proposals, called for the enactment of a law against secession at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jia-qinglin/some-non-communist-parties-and-cppcc-members-have-at-cppcc-meetings/) Jia Qinglin > [The virtue of small government is that the mistakes are small as well...If you want to leave a nation you think is corrupt, inefficient,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirkpatrick-sale/the-virtue-of-small-government-is-that-the-mistakes-are-small-as-well/) [Kirkpatrick Sale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirkpatrick-sale/) > [The idea that 'if you don't like how things are going, you can just leave' is so ingrained in Texas, the secession movement is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-collins/the-idea-that-if-you-don-t-like-how-things-are-going-you-can-just/) [Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-collins/) > [What happened in Pakistan was that people were told: You're all Muslim, so now you're a country. As we saw in 1971 with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/what-happened-in-pakistan-was-that-people-were-told-you-re-all-muslim/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/in-giving-freedom-to-the-slave-we-assure-freedom-to-the-free/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No state, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/no-state-upon-its-own-mere-motion-can-lawfully-get-out-of-the-union/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/if-i-could-save-the-union-without-freeing-any-slave-i-would-do-it/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [If the Union was formed by accession of States then the Union may be dissolved by the secession of States.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/if-the-union-was-formed-by-accession-of-states-then-the-union-may-be/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/my-paramount-object-in-this-struggle-is-to-save-the-union-and-is-not/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Up until the late unpleasantness of the Civil war, then, the right of secession was more or less taken for granted in many quarters,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the-civil-war-then-the-right-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“I HAVE said somewhere that the three Presidentiads preceding 1861 show’d how the weakness and wickedness of rulers are just as eligible here in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-have-said-somewhere-that-the-three-presidentiads-preceding-1861/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“We may be rats in a maze as far as the Obama administration is concerned, but in Texas, we are rats with a firm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-king/we-may-be-rats-in-a-maze-as-far-as-the-obama-administration-is/) [Tom King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-king/) ## More by Jane Mayer > [“David Brock, a conservative apostate who became a liberal activist, described the Heritage Foundation, where he was a young fellow, as almost completely under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/david-brock-a-conservative-apostate-who-became-a-liberal-activist/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“The early think tank was not a spy operation, but it was funded by wealthy men who had no objections to using pretexts and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/the-early-think-tank-was-not-a-spy-operation-but-it-was-funded-by/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“Americans for Prosperity annoyed some of the Tea Partiers,” recalls the libertarian blogger Ralph Benko. “These people drove up, opened the door, put T-shirts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/americans-for-prosperity-annoyed-some-of-the-tea-partiers-recalls-the/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“When Barack Obama took office, the fossil fuel industry was not only eager to preserve its perks but also more militant in its opposition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/when-barack-obama-took-office-the-fossil-fuel-industry-was-not-only/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [If you have an informed electorate, it makes great choices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/if-you-have-an-informed-electorate-it-makes-great-choices/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [ One of the oddities of this election is the man that \[Donald\] Trump chose as his vice-president, Mike Pence, is one of the Kochs'… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/one-of-the-oddities-of-this-election-is-the-man-that-donald-trump/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“The candidates promised to cut taxes for those in the highest brackets, preserve Wall Street loopholes, tolerate the off-shoring of manufacturing jobs and profits,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/the-candidates-promised-to-cut-taxes-for-those-in-the-highest/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“Amway in fact was structured to avoid federal taxes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/amway-in-fact-was-structured-to-avoid-federal-taxes/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“radicals in Congress refused to back down, bringing virtually the entire federal government to a halt for sixteen days in October, leaving the country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/radicals-in-congress-refused-to-back-down-bringing-virtually-the/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [What I write about is how much influence it's had in things like state legislatures and governorships and congressional races. The other thing that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/what-i-write-about-is-how-much-influence-it-s-had-in-things-like/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“Two months into their tenure, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee also led a crusade against alternative, renewable energy programs. They successfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/two-months-into-their-tenure-republicans-on-the-house-energy-and/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [ \[The Kochs\] they hate big government. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/the-kochs-they-hate-big-government/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“Rob Reich, a professor of political science at Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, explains that private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/rob-reich-a-professor-of-political-science-at-stanford-university-and/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“During the previous eight years of Republican rule, this conservative corporate elite had consolidated its power, amassing enormous sway over the U.S. government’s regulatory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/during-the-previous-eight-years-of-republican-rule-this-conservative/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) > [“Noble again chose Larry McCarthy, the veteran media consultant who was known for his ability to distill a complicated subject into a simple, potent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/noble-again-chose-larry-mccarthy-the-veteran-media-consultant-who-was/) [Jane Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) [Explore all 305 Jane Mayer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/) ## More Secession quotes > [“We may be rats in a maze as far as the Obama administration is concerned, but in Texas, we are rats with a firm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-king/we-may-be-rats-in-a-maze-as-far-as-the-obama-administration-is/) [Tom King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-king/) > [“I HAVE said somewhere that the three Presidentiads preceding 1861 show’d how the weakness and wickedness of rulers are just as eligible here in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-have-said-somewhere-that-the-three-presidentiads-preceding-1861/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Up until the late unpleasantness of the Civil war, then, the right of secession was more or less taken for granted in many quarters,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the-civil-war-then-the-right-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/my-paramount-object-in-this-struggle-is-to-save-the-union-and-is-not/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [If the Union was formed by accession of States then the Union may be dissolved by the secession of States.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/if-the-union-was-formed-by-accession-of-states-then-the-union-may-be/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/if-i-could-save-the-union-without-freeing-any-slave-i-would-do-it/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No state, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/no-state-upon-its-own-mere-motion-can-lawfully-get-out-of-the-union/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/in-giving-freedom-to-the-slave-we-assure-freedom-to-the-free/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [What happened in Pakistan was that people were told: You're all Muslim, so now you're a country. As we saw in 1971 with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/what-happened-in-pakistan-was-that-people-were-told-you-re-all-muslim/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [The idea that 'if you don't like how things are going, you can just leave' is so ingrained in Texas, the secession movement is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-collins/the-idea-that-if-you-don-t-like-how-things-are-going-you-can-just/) [Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-collins/) > [The virtue of small government is that the mistakes are small as well...If you want to leave a nation you think is corrupt, inefficient,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirkpatrick-sale/the-virtue-of-small-government-is-that-the-mistakes-are-small-as-well/) [Kirkpatrick Sale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirkpatrick-sale/) > [Some non-communist parties and CPPCC members have, at CPPCC meetings or in their proposals, called for the enactment of a law against secession at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jia-qinglin/some-non-communist-parties-and-cppcc-members-have-at-cppcc-meetings/) Jia Qinglin > [I can't say with certainty that slavery would have ended more quickly and more completely if the South had been allowed to leave and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-swanson/i-can-t-say-with-certainty-that-slavery-would-have-ended-more-quickly/) [David Swanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-swanson/) > [Secession withdraws the State out of the reach of the usurped powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abel-p-upshur/secession-withdraws-the-state-out-of-the-reach-of-the-usurped-powers/) Abel P. Upshur > [I am not in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-am-not-in-favor-of-making-voters-or-jurors-of-negroes-nor-of/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) [Browse all 70 Secession quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secession/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years observing how wealthy interests gamed the policy-making apparatus in Washington, where he was a staff member on the Senate Budget Committee, decried what he called the “secession” of the rich in which they “disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well-being except as a place to extract loot.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Mayer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thirty-years-observing-how/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Secession" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thirty-years-observing-how/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/jane-mayer-1031_secession_mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thir_1329264.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years observing how wealthy interests gamed the policy-making…” — Jane Mayer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jane Mayer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-mayer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thirty-years-observing-how/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-mayer/mike-lofgren-a-republican-who-spent-thirty-years-observing-how/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```