Drain the swamp is a phrase which has frequently been used by politicians since the 1980s and in the U.S. often refers to reducing the influence of
special interests and lobbyists. The phrase can allude to the physical draining of
swamps which is conducted to keep
mosquito populations low in order to combat
malaria,[1] prevalent during the time in
Washington, D.C., on supposed swampy grounds.[2]
Examples
It has been used as a metaphor by:
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830–1885) who wrote that to "clear the swamp" (the first obvious step to reclaiming "poisonous and swampy wilderness") was an apt metaphor for how to start addressing "the disgrace to us of the present condition of our Indians".[3]
Winfield R. Gaylord (1870–1943) to describe the socialist desire to "drain" the "capitalist swamp".[1]
Victor L. Berger (1860–1929), who in his book Broadsides referred to changing the capitalist system as "drain[ing] the swamp".[4]
A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979) and
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) in
A Freedom Budget for All Americans (1966), argued that "The breeding grounds of crime and discontent will be diminished in the same way that draining a swamp cuts down the breeding of mosquitoes, and the causes of discrimination will be considerably reduced."
Ronald Reagan, who called to "drain the swamp" of bureaucracy in the federal government in 1983 when commissioning the
Grace Commission.[5][6]
Pat Buchanan during
his 2000 presidential campaign , when he invoked the saying in opposition to the dominant political parties: "Neither
Beltway party is going to drain this swamp: it's a protected wetland; they breed in it, they spawn in it".[7]
Jessica Stern in "Preparing for a War on Terrorism" (November 2001), where she calls on the U.S. to see failing and failed states as sources and sanctuaries for terrorists and terrorism (the swamp) and to use foreign aid and soft power to combat them (the draining).[8]
Drain the swamp is a phrase which has frequently been used by politicians since the 1980s and in the U.S. often refers to reducing the influence of
special interests and lobbyists. The phrase can allude to the physical draining of
swamps which is conducted to keep
mosquito populations low in order to combat
malaria,[1] prevalent during the time in
Washington, D.C., on supposed swampy grounds.[2]
Examples
It has been used as a metaphor by:
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830–1885) who wrote that to "clear the swamp" (the first obvious step to reclaiming "poisonous and swampy wilderness") was an apt metaphor for how to start addressing "the disgrace to us of the present condition of our Indians".[3]
Winfield R. Gaylord (1870–1943) to describe the socialist desire to "drain" the "capitalist swamp".[1]
Victor L. Berger (1860–1929), who in his book Broadsides referred to changing the capitalist system as "drain[ing] the swamp".[4]
A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979) and
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) in
A Freedom Budget for All Americans (1966), argued that "The breeding grounds of crime and discontent will be diminished in the same way that draining a swamp cuts down the breeding of mosquitoes, and the causes of discrimination will be considerably reduced."
Ronald Reagan, who called to "drain the swamp" of bureaucracy in the federal government in 1983 when commissioning the
Grace Commission.[5][6]
Pat Buchanan during
his 2000 presidential campaign , when he invoked the saying in opposition to the dominant political parties: "Neither
Beltway party is going to drain this swamp: it's a protected wetland; they breed in it, they spawn in it".[7]
Jessica Stern in "Preparing for a War on Terrorism" (November 2001), where she calls on the U.S. to see failing and failed states as sources and sanctuaries for terrorists and terrorism (the swamp) and to use foreign aid and soft power to combat them (the draining).[8]