Eric Liu Quotes

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Citizenship Community Country Patriots Purpose Sacrifice Today

A basic assumption shapes most Americans’ mindset about labor: the belief that the death of unions isn’t my problem because I’m not in a union. That assumption is wrong. Even if you aren’t a member, your pay is influenced by the strength or weakness of organized labor. The presence of unions sets off a wage race to the top. Their absence sets off a race to the bottom.

Eric Liu

Race, Shapes, Organized Labor

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True patriots measure themselves not by personal wealth or power but by the degree to which they contribute to the community.

Eric Liu

Community, Degrees, Cooperation

Eric Liu, Nick Hanauer (2012). “The True Patriot”, p.61, Sasquatch Books

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Love of country cannot be a supersized version of individual narcissism. True love of country-of this country-is love of our children, of a creed that promises them a better life before it promises us anything, and embraces the sacrifices needed to make that better life. True love of country is giving ourselves to a cause and a purpose larger than ourselves. And that cause is to make liberty worth having, to make the pursuit of happiness deeper than the quest for personal pleasure, and to leave a legacy of progress and possibility.

Eric Liu

Love, Country, Children

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We're all better off...when we're all better off.

Eric Liu

Better Off

Eric Liu, Nick Hanauer (2011). “The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government”, p.79, Sasquatch Books

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The next time someone uses denial of citizenship as a weapon or brandishes the special status conferred upon him by the accident of birth, ask him this: What have you done lately to earn it?

Eric Liu

Special, Denial, Weapons

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Our commitment should be to leave our environment in better shape than when we found it, our nation's fiscal house in better order, our public infrastructure in better repair, and our people better educated and healthier. To indulge in immediate gratification and exploitation is an insult to previous generations, who sacrificed for us, and thievery from the next generation, who depend on our virtue.

Eric Liu

Commitment, Order, Indulge In

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Six decades ago, as Mao's Communists seized power, the question in Washington was, 'Who lost China?' Now, as his capitalist descendants stand astride the world stage and Washington worries about decline, it seems to be, 'Who lost America?'

Eric Liu

America, Worry, Six

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We tend to think of politics as bad, full of dirty tricks, negative ads, big campaigns, but I am here to explore the original meaning of politics, which is positive and has to do with balancing competing interests and looking for solutions.

Eric Liu

Positive, Dirty, Naughty

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Identity in America is complicated but it's also simple: it's about whom you identify with and who identifies with you.

Eric Liu

Simple, America, Identity

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Today's multiracial Americans are at greater liberty to choose how they'd like to be seen, and under less pressure to pass for white.

Eric Liu

White, Liberty, Today

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At the heart of our public morality is the idea that he who gives generously is most virtuous and morally praiseworthy; that there is no greater citizen than she who sacrifices; and that there is no greater measure of worth than contribution. These are values we can be proud of. After all, there is no moral system or religion on earth where the guiding ethic is grab more for yourself.

Eric Liu

Heart, Sacrifice, Ideas

Eric Liu, Nick Hanauer (2012). “The True Patriot”, p.34, Sasquatch Books

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True patriots believe that freedom from responsibility is selfishness, freedom from sacrifice is cowardice, freedom from tolerance is prejudice, freedom from stewardship is exploitation, and freedom from compassion is cruelty.

Eric Liu

Believe, Responsibility, Sacrifice

Eric Liu, Nick Hanauer (2012). “The True Patriot”, p.20, Sasquatch Books

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True patriots believe that we should measure a citizen's worth by contribution to country and community, not by wealth or power-that those whom America has benefited most should contribute in proportion to their good fortune-and that serving others should be esteemed more highly than serving self.

Eric Liu

Country, Believe, Self

Eric Liu, Nick Hanauer (2012). “The True Patriot”, p.20, Sasquatch Books

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As it stands now, those of us who are lucky enough to be citizens by birth don't have to do much. Very little is asked of us.

Eric Liu

Lucky, Citizens, Littles

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From the right, you get demagogues shouting about brown-skinned anchor babies and clamoring to deport the undocumented. From the left, you get advocacy for the oppressed but otherwise, when it comes to national civic identity, mainly silence.

Eric Liu

Baby, Anchors, Silence

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Great numbers of Asian Americans do not fit the model minority or 'tiger family' stereotypes, living instead in multigenerational poverty far from the mainstream.

Eric Liu

Numbers, Asian, Minorities

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What does purpose mean? It means the deepest desire for our short lives to mean something. . . . To speak a language of purpose is to return to first principles and to be able to answer, in plain English, the plain questions of Why? Why should we chip in to help someone else? Why should we defer gratification? Why should we care about the long term? Why should we trust anyone who seems to be limiting our ability to do what we want?

Eric Liu

Short Life, Mean, Long

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Today, public understanding of our past and our system of government is pitifully low.

Eric Liu

Past, Government, Understanding

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Imagine filling a college with the first 1,000 students to get perfect SATs. Whatever the racial composition of that class would be, the notion seems absurd because we know that college in America is supposed to be about creating citizens and leaders in a diverse nation.

Eric Liu

College, Class, Creating

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The strongest streak in the American character is a fierce pragmatism that mistrust blind ideology of every stripe and insists on finding what really works.

Eric Liu

Character, Stripes, Fierce

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Throughout this country's history there have of course been systematic efforts to create an official underclass.

Eric Liu

Country, Effort, Systematic

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Here's a proposal, offered only partly in jest: no resident of the United States, whether born here or abroad, should get to be a citizen until age 18, at which time each such resident has to take a test.

Eric Liu

Age, United States, Citizens

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Jeremy Lin is the only Asian American in the NBA today and one of the few in any professional U.S. sport. His arrival is surely leading other talented Asian American athletes this week to contemplate a pro career.

Eric Liu

Sports, Athlete, Nba

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Conservatives forget that citizenship is more than a thing to withhold from immigrants. Progressives forget it's more than a set of rights.

Eric Liu

Rights, Citizenship, Forget

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To be sure, the United States has profound problems, not least our faltering educational and physical infrastructure.

Eric Liu

Educational, Profound, United States

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Born: 1968
Occupation: Writer
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