American Democracy Quotes - Page 3

• It's important to address young people in the reopening of New Orleans. In rebuilding, let's revisit the potential of American democracy and American glory.

  Wynton Marsalis

  New Orleans, People, Democracy

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• Let’s not forget that American democracy started with ‘We the People’ agreeing to work hard to create ‘a more perfect union.’ We’ve lost the idea that politics begins at home with what happens in families, in neighborhoods, in classrooms, in congregations. We called this democracy into being – and if we want to call this democracy back to its highest values, it’s got to be the us doing that calling. That’s not going to happen if ‘We the People’ don’t know how to talk to one another with civility and hold our differences in a creative, life-giving way.

  Parker J. Palmer

  Hard Work, Home, Ideas

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• And I'd like to say to the Senate, I hope you will say yes to a stronger American democracy in the year 2000.

  William J. Clinton

  Years, Historical, Democracy

  Clinton, William J. (2000). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1999”, p.70, Best Books on

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• Super PACs and a corrupt campaign finance system are destroying American democracy. We're proud that we have received four million individual contributions, more than any candidate in American history at this point.

  Bernie Sanders

  Democracy, Four, Proud

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• You are sitting here defending an assault on American democracy. Somebody probably said nice things about anybody at a given point. This is an unprecedented event that was done at the behest of the House Republicans that was leaked to the press by the House Republicans.

  James Carville

  Nice, House, Democracy

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• If American democracy is to remain the greatest hope of humanity, it must continue abundantly in the faith of the Bible

  Calvin Coolidge

  Presidential, Humanity, Democracy

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• That's what American democracy has come down to at these town hall meetings: old people and gun nuts, which is a terrible combination. I heard somebody yell 'AK-47!' and a lady yelled, 'Bingo!'

  Bill Maher

  Gun, Ak 47, Nuts

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• It [concentration of wealth and power] has been a menace to . . . American democracy.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Concentration Of Wealth, Political, Democracy

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• American democracy is really under attack here [Clinton campaign that was hacked]. And the question is how are we and in particular and how are Democrats going to respond to this. We have to understand this is really, really quite extraordinary. And it would seem to me that the FBI shouldn't be getting rolled by the House Republicans and that's what happened here.

  James Carville

  House, Democracy, Campaigns

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury.

  John Oliver

  Funny, Democracy, Campaigns

  "John Oliver’s Campaign Ad Formula: F.L.A.G.S". www.huffingtonpost.com. July 31, 2012.

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• You do not keep American democracy in suspense. Because, look, too many people have marched and protested and fought and died for this democracy.

  Michelle Obama

  People, Democracy, Suspense

  Source: www.msnbc.com

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• That's what separates out American democracy from dictators and horrible governments across the world and the reason why that works is that we have a president that can consult with congress before making big decisions. That doesn't just make a unilateral decision to go in for military conflict.

  Charles R. Chamberlain

  Military, Government, Iraq

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• I'm passionate about restoring the efficacy of American democracy, making capitalism sustainable, prioritizing advances in technology, and seizing the opportunities to use that kind of innovation to help usher in a new economy that doesn't rely on carbon-spewing fossil fuels.

  Al Gore

  Technology, Opportunity, Innovation

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• Obama is not just a powerful speaker, but a thinker engaged with the ideas of his country and his age--this argument by historian James Kloppenberg should therefore fascinate anyone interested in American politics or how ideas shape public life. Tracing the influences of Obama's family, educational, and work experiences on his ideas, Reading Obama locates a unique individual in the crosscurrents of American democracy and continuing fights over American ideals.

  Martha Minow

  Country, Powerful, Educational

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• At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

  John Paul Stevens

  Government, Self, People

  "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310". United States Supreme Court case No. 08-205, caselaw.findlaw.com. January 21, 2010.

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• H.L.Mencken's war aims, according to the handful of observers who deigned to notice his conflict, were the overthrow of American Democracy, the Christian religion, and the YMCA. He was also credited with trying to wipe out poets and luncheon orators.

  Ben Hecht

  Christian, Art, War

  Ben Hecht (1964). “Letters from Bohemia”

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• Elvis [Presley] had a stepstool, if you will, to success because he came from the dominant culture. They identified with him. Michael Jackson had to come further and go deeper into the pit of possibility of American democracy and of cultural expression.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Expression, Democracy, Culture

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• And every historic effort to forge a democratic project has been undermined by two fundamental realities: poverty and paranoia. The persistence of poverty generates levels of despair that deepen social conflict the escalation of paranoia produces levels of distrust that reinforce cultural division. Rae is the most explosive issue in American life precisely because it forces us to confront the tragic facts of poverty and paranoia despair, and distrust. In short, a candid examination of race matters takes us to the core of the crisis of American democracy (p. 107).

  Cornel West

  Reality, Persistence, Two

  Cornel West (2017). “Race Matters: With a New Introduction”, p.107, Beacon Press

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• When Jefferson and the Republicans rallied to the Union and to the existing Federalist organization, the fabric of traditional American democracy was almost completely woven.

  Herbert Croly

  Organization, Democracy, Woven

  Herbert Croly (2005). “The Promise of American Life”, p.47, Cosimo, Inc.

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• But you have to understand, American democracy is not like the system you have. We're not an ocean liner that sails across the ocean from point A to point B at 30 knots. That's not American democracy. American democracy is kind of like a life raft that bobs around the ocean all the time. Your feet are always wet. Winds are always blowing. You're cold. You're wet. You're uncomfortable -- but you never sink.

  Colin Powell

  Ocean, Wind, Feet

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• American democracy is the inalienable right to sit on your front porch, in your pyjamas, drinking a can of beer and shouting out 'Where else is this possible?' Which doesn't seem to me to be freedom, really.

  Peter Ustinov

  Drinking, Beer, Democracy

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• How, then,' I hear you ask, 'shall I attain my end, whether it be Christian love, socialism, or American democracy?' Your Christian love and your socialism and your American democracy are what you do each day, your manner of thinking each hour, of embracing your life companion and loving your child; they are your attitude of social responsibility towards your work, and your determination not to become like the crushers of life you so hate.

  Wilhelm Reich

  Christian, Determination, Children

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• Why do Americans find government so baffling and irritating-even though many of us depend on public programs for a secure retirement, an affordable mortgage, or a college loan? In this timely and important book, political scientist Suzanne Mettler explains how the United States has come to rely on hidden, indirect policies that privilege special interests but puzzle regular citizens. American democracy can do better, and she shows how. Politicians and the public alike have much to learn from her brilliant and engaging analysis.

  Theda Skocpol

  Retirement, Book, College

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• If sexual relations between consenting adults are not part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution, then American democracy is in trouble.

  Coretta Scott King

  Democracy, Adults, Privacy

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• Whatever else the religious Right may be, it is a bonanza for its opponents... Reports of the great terror that is upon us are raising millions of dollars in fund appeals by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, Norman Lear's People for the American Way, and others who claim to believe that the religious Right is the greatest peril to American democracy since Joe McCarthy.

  Richard John Neuhaus

  Christian, Religious, Believe

  Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Cromartie, Ethics and Public Policy Center (Washington, D.C.) (1987). “Piety and politics: evangelicals and fundamentalists confront the world”, Ethics & Public Policy Center

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