--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Congress is best viewed from a…" description: "\"Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a3/robert-m-gates-2972_appropriation_congress-is-best-viewed-from-a-distance_2054557.png" --- # Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the… ![“Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical…” quote by Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a3/robert-m-gates-2972_appropriation_congress-is-best-viewed-from-a-distance_2054557.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a3/robert-m-gates-2972_appropriation_congress-is-best-viewed-from-a-distance_2054557.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a3/robert-m-gates-2972_appropriation_congress-is-best-viewed-from-a-distance_2054557.png) > “Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.” [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Observing Congress from afar reveals its dysfunction; close proximity exposes its ugliness and self‑interest. **In simple terms:** Congress looks worse up close. Key Takeaway Critically evaluate political institutions. Themes politics leadership accountability Mood cynical critical Type political observational When to use this quote - voting decisions - policy analysis - public advocacy - media commentary Key Concepts institutional decay self‑interest public service Questions to Reflect On - How does distance affect our judgment of institutions? - What reforms could reduce congressional self‑interest? A Different Perspective Even distant observers may miss systemic issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Appropriation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appropriation/) [Congress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/congress/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Election](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/election/) [Incompetent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incompetent/) [Responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) ## Related quotes > [Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/congress-is-best-viewed-from-a-distance-the-farther-the-better/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [Some members of Congress are among the best actors in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-chisholm/some-members-of-congress-are-among-the-best-actors-in-the-world/) [Shirley Chisholm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-chisholm/) > [As Harry Blackmun said when he wrote Roe v. Wade, 'Once a child is born, the child has basic constitutional rights: due process, equal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nat-hentoff/as-harry-blackmun-said-when-he-wrote-roe-v-wade-once-a-child-is-born/) [Nat Hentoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nat-hentoff/) > [“In the United States, the Supreme Court blocked several attempts to levy a federal income tax in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-piketty/in-the-united-states-the-supreme-court-blocked-several-attempts-to/) [Thomas Piketty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-piketty/) > [Every American, regardless of their background, has the right to live free of unwarranted government intrusion. Repealing the worst provisions of the Patriot Act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-stark/every-american-regardless-of-their-background-has-the-right-to-live/) [Pete Stark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-stark/) > [“The postmodern notion of "appropriation" is not a good fit. In New Mexico, the "indigenous" is a syncretic fusion of Native American and Hispano…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-r-lippard/the-postmodern-notion-of-appropriation-is-not-a-good-fit-in-new/) [Lucy R. Lippard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-r-lippard/) > [I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor, and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/i-propose-in-the-following-discussion-to-call-one-s-own-labor-and-the/) Franz Oppenheimer > [I'm not tied to the news cycle. I can do an episode on cultural appropriation, not on Rachel Dolezal. We might make a joke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moshe-kasher/i-m-not-tied-to-the-news-cycle-i-can-do-an-episode-on-cultural/) [Moshe Kasher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moshe-kasher/) > [I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grover-cleveland/i-can-find-no-warrant-for-such-an-appropriation-in-the-constitution/) [Grover Cleveland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grover-cleveland/) > [Feminist pedagogy can only be liberatory if it is truly revolutionary because the mechanisms of appropriation within white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy are able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/feminist-pedagogy-can-only-be-liberatory-if-it-is-truly-revolutionary/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [As chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA appropriations, I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-proxmire/as-chairman-of-the-senate-subcommittee-responsible-for-nasa/) [William Proxmire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-proxmire/) > [Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/here-one-must-think-profoundly-to-the-very-basis-and-resist-all/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What you have now then is the marketing of racialized identities as tools for consumption. And certain racialized bodies and images are associated with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amalia-mesa-bains/what-you-have-now-then-is-the-marketing-of-racialized-identities-as/) Amalia Mesa-Bains > [We have some of the most influential Members of Congress here today, and I do hope that we can get this appropriation for these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/we-have-some-of-the-most-influential-members-of-congress-here-today/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amandla-stenberg/what-would-america-be-like-if-we-loved-black-people-as-much-as-we/) [Amandla Stenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amandla-stenberg/) ## More by Robert M. Gates > [And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/and-so-the-greatest-of-american-triumphs-became-a-peculiarly-joyless/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [“Obama answered, “Yes. I’m no peacenik.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/obama-answered-yes-i-m-no-peacenik/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [“I was seething. I told him that “the clock is ticking” and that our patience with their lack of political progress was running out.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-was-seething-i-told-him-that-the-clock-is-ticking-and-that-our/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [Some people have said, in so many words, that I'm kind of wooly-headed in believing that the Iranians would see not having nuclear weapons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/some-people-have-said-in-so-many-words-that-i-m-kind-of-wooly-headed/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [“Obama was the fourth president I had worked for who said outright that he wanted to eliminate all nuclear weapons (Carter, Reagan, and Bush…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/obama-was-the-fourth-president-i-had-worked-for-who-said-outright/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [I had no concerns - I had no reason to have concerns based on what was available to me about North's contacts with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-had-no-concerns-i-had-no-reason-to-have-concerns-based-on-what-was/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [Health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/health-care-costs-are-eating-the-defense-department-alive/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [“The passage of fourteen years had led to another significant change in the international environment. As I told Bush 43 and Condi Rice on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-passage-of-fourteen-years-had-led-to-another-significant-change/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-ve-been-very-sensitive-for-a-long-time-to-the-repeated-pattern/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [I don't know General Michael Flynn well, but it's hard for me to believe anybody would allow themselves to be blackmailed by the Russians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-don-t-know-general-michael-flynn-well-but-it-s-hard-for-me-to/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-had-no-difficulty-as-secretary-of-defense-moving-from-the-bush/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [The United States has been a global power since late in the 19th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-united-states-has-been-a-global-power-since-late-in-the-19th/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [My one concern is that Hu Jintao may overestimate how much power China has in Pyongyang. They have - they do have influence, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/my-one-concern-is-that-hu-jintao-may-overestimate-how-much-power/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [“I thought you were my friend.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-thought-you-were-my-friend/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [“Soon after the raid was over, the White House released the now-famous photo of all of us watching the video in that small conference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/soon-after-the-raid-was-over-the-white-house-released-the-now-famous/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) [Explore all 143 Robert M. Gates quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) ## More Appropriation quotes > [What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amandla-stenberg/what-would-america-be-like-if-we-loved-black-people-as-much-as-we/) [Amandla Stenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amandla-stenberg/) > [We have some of the most influential Members of Congress here today, and I do hope that we can get this appropriation for these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/we-have-some-of-the-most-influential-members-of-congress-here-today/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [“What you have now then is the marketing of racialized identities as tools for consumption. And certain racialized bodies and images are associated with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amalia-mesa-bains/what-you-have-now-then-is-the-marketing-of-racialized-identities-as/) Amalia Mesa-Bains > [Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/here-one-must-think-profoundly-to-the-very-basis-and-resist-all/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [As chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA appropriations, I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-proxmire/as-chairman-of-the-senate-subcommittee-responsible-for-nasa/) [William Proxmire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-proxmire/) > [Feminist pedagogy can only be liberatory if it is truly revolutionary because the mechanisms of appropriation within white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy are able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/feminist-pedagogy-can-only-be-liberatory-if-it-is-truly-revolutionary/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grover-cleveland/i-can-find-no-warrant-for-such-an-appropriation-in-the-constitution/) [Grover Cleveland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grover-cleveland/) > [I'm not tied to the news cycle. I can do an episode on cultural appropriation, not on Rachel Dolezal. We might make a joke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moshe-kasher/i-m-not-tied-to-the-news-cycle-i-can-do-an-episode-on-cultural/) [Moshe Kasher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moshe-kasher/) > [I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor, and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/i-propose-in-the-following-discussion-to-call-one-s-own-labor-and-the/) Franz Oppenheimer > [“The postmodern notion of "appropriation" is not a good fit. In New Mexico, the "indigenous" is a syncretic fusion of Native American and Hispano…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-r-lippard/the-postmodern-notion-of-appropriation-is-not-a-good-fit-in-new/) [Lucy R. Lippard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-r-lippard/) > [If you want to talk about cultural appropriation, we have to go back to the Greeks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mcdormand/if-you-want-to-talk-about-cultural-appropriation-we-have-to-go-back/) [Frances McDormand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mcdormand/) > [Translation is not appropriation, as is sometimes claimed; it is a form of listening that then changes how you speak.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliot-weinberger/translation-is-not-appropriation-as-is-sometimes-claimed-it-is-a-form/) [Eliot Weinberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliot-weinberger/) > [“The alternative to appropriation is a world in which artists only reference their own cultures." "That's an oversimplification of the issue." "The alternative to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/the-alternative-to-appropriation-is-a-world-in-which-artists-only/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [There are two methods, or means, and only two, whereby man's needs and desires can be satisfied. One is the production and exchange of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/there-are-two-methods-or-means-and-only-two-whereby-man-s-needs-and/) [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) > [“Even you, the professional helper, often mistaken for the enlightened Guru or Staretz, can become lost in your thoughts that you must be competent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-e-spradlin/even-you-the-professional-helper-often-mistaken-for-the-enlightened/) Scott E. Spradlin [Browse all 108 Appropriation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appropriation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert M. 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