Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.

Oscar Ameringer (1870–1943) was an Austrian-born American socialist journalist and labor organizer, long active in Oklahoma and the broader U.S. left. The quip reflects the early-20th-century Progressive Era and interwar climate in which mass electoral politics, corporate money, and class conflict were increasingly visible features of American public life. Ameringer, known for sharp satire aimed at political hypocrisy and plutocratic influence, frequently distilled socialist critiques into memorable one-liners for speeches and print. The remark is typically cited as a general observation rather than tied to a single famous debate; it encapsulates his skepticism about how politicians balance populist appeals to working people with dependence on wealthy donors.

Ameringer’s epigram satirizes electoral politics as a balancing act between two economic classes. Politicians, he suggests, secure mass support by appealing to the anxieties of poorer voters while simultaneously courting wealthy donors for the money needed to run campaigns. The “gentle art” phrasing is ironic: the process is portrayed as refined and civilized, yet fundamentally transactional and manipulative. The promise to “protect each from the other” implies that politics thrives on maintaining (and rhetorically inflaming) class antagonism—offering reassurance to both sides without necessarily resolving underlying inequalities. The line remains resonant in modern discussions of populism, campaign finance, and the tension between democratic representation and donor influence.

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.