Reform Quotes - Page 9

• Conservatism stands on man's confessed limitations; reform on his indisputable infinitude; conservatism on circumstance; liberalism on power; one goes to make an adroit member of the social frame; the other to postpone all things to the man himself.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Politics, He Man

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1191, Delphi Classics

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• Liberal comes from the Latin liberalis, which means pertaining to a free man. In politics, to be liberal is to want to extend democracy through change and reform. One can see why that word had to be erased from our political lexicon.

  Gore Vidal

  Latin, Mean, Men

  Gore Vidal (1992). “The Decline and Fall of the American Empire”

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• The government in which I believe is that which is based on mere moral sanction...the real law lives in the kindness of our hearts. If our hearts are empty, no law or political reform can fill them.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Kindness, Real, Believe

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• Religion must be used in furthering great works of justice and reform. It must be used to establish right relations between different groups of men, and thus to make a reality of brotherhood. It must be used to abolish poverty, the breeding ground of all misery and crime, by distributing equably among men the abundance of the soil. And it must be used to get rid of war and to establish enduring peace. Here is the supreme test of the effectiveness of religion.

  John Haynes Holmes

  War, Reality, Men

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• It is a dangerous thing to reform anyone.

  Oscar Wilde

  Change, Dangerous, Dangerous Things

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “Aphorisms”, p.14, Oscar Wilde

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• The reason I entered the election race was to promote reforms. For us who engage in business, we will be severely affected if financial and structural reforms don't proceed.

  Takafumi Horie

  Change, Business, Race

  "Talk Asia" with Lorraine Hahn, www.cnn.com. November 23, 2005.

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• The Bush administration continues to coddle China, despite its continuing crackdown on democratic reform, its brutal subjugation of Tibet, its irresponsible export of nuclear and missile technology... Such forbearance on our part might have made sense during the Cold War when China was the counterweight to Soviet power. It makes no sense to play the China card now when our opponents have thrown in their hand.

  William J. Clinton

  War, Technology, Hands

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• Enough. Man is capable of reform once presented with the facts, and the fact is that bottling water and shipping it is a big waste of fuel, so stop already.

  Garrison Keillor

  Men, Water, Fuel

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• I support lowering the level of legal immigration by a moderate amount at this time. Legal immigration reform must be based upon principles that are pro-family, pro-work, and pro-naturalization, retaining opportunities for family reunification as the levels are lowered. We must not let this issue become divisive in this country.

  William J. Clinton

  Country, Opportunity, Issues

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• I recently spoke with Barbara Jordan of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, and I increasingly believe we need a system to verify employment eligibility. The Commission's recommendation of a national registry may be the way to go.

  William J. Clinton

  Believe, Immigration, Needs

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• To the extent that our workers compete with low-paid Mexicans, it is as much through undocumented immigration as trade. This pattern threatens low-paid, low-skill U.S. workers. The combination of domestic reforms and NAFTA-related growth in Mexico will keep more Mexicans at home. It is likely that a reduction in immigration will increase the real wages of low-skilled urban and rural workers in the United States.

  William J. Clinton

  Real, Home, Skills

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• The time to fix our broken immigration system is now... We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace... But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America... Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should.

  Barack Obama

  Skills, America, People

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• ...I believe that it is not enough, as I said, to tinker at the margins of U.S. immigration law... the United States must institute comprehensive reforms that conform to the realities of the era in which we live.

  Ronald Reagan

  Believe, Reality, Law

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• This bill [Immigration Reform and Control act of 1986] is a gamble, a riverboat gamble. There is no guarantee that employer sanctions will work or that amnesty will work. We are headed into uncharted waters.

  Charles Schumer

  Guarantees That, Uncharted Waters, Immigration

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• I've always said that the 1986 [Immigration Reform and Control] Act had a fourth leg [in addition to law enforcement, increased immigration and amnesty] to its stool which was wishful thinking. And that pattern of a four-legged stool was copied in the failed attempts to enact a second and bigger general amnesty for illegal aliens in 2006, 2007, and in the current year 2013.

  Jan C. Ting

  Thinking, Years, Law

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• I hope that Republicans in the House and Mr. Cantor will embrace that as part of immigration reform.

  Dick Durbin

  House, Immigration, Republican

  "Durbin: All illegal immigrants must have pathway to citizenship" by John Bresnahan, www.politico.com. February 10, 2013.

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• When it comes to immigration reform, now is the time ... I've never seen a better political environment ... I'm not doing immigration reform to solve the Republican Party's political problem. I'm trying to save our nation from, I think, a shortage of labor and a catastrophic broken system.

  Lindsey Graham

  Party, Thinking, Broken

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• I've always been for immigration reform; in 2007 I just didn't feel it had enough protections.

  Tom Harkin

  Immigration, Had Enough, Protection

  "Moderate Dems coy on immigration debate". www.politico.com.

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• We can't go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were born here - who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well... What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new appreciation on both sides of the aisle, maybe more importantly on the Republican side, that we need to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

  John McCain

  Country, Appreciation, Children

  "'This Week' Transcript: Sen. John McCain and Sen. Robert Menendez". "This week" with Martha Raddatz, abcnews.go.com. January 27, 2013.

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• Reforms to our complex and dysfunctional immigration system should not in any way favor those who came here illegally over the millions of applicants who seek to come here lawfully. Additionally, the framework carves out a special exception for agricultural workers that has little justification.

  Mike Lee

  America, Safety, Goal

  "On Senate Immigraton Proposal, Bipartisan Sponsors Claim Momentum For Uphill Battle" by Elise Foley, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 28, 2013.

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• We have history as a guide, and history suggests that this brand of comprehensive reform ... is a recipe for failure.

  David Vitter

  Immigration, Recipes, Guides

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• There seems to be a lot of momentum behind immigration reform.

  Justin Amash

  Immigration, Momentum, Behinds

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• I still believe the momentum is there to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform, and I think there is a bipartisan coalition that would pass right now, a pathway to citizenship if Speaker Boehner lets it come to the floor.

  Joaquin Castro

  Believe, Thinking, Pathways

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• The time for common-sense immigration reform is now," Grayson said in a news release. "We must set forth a straightforward route to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants who already live in our communities, work for our businesses and want to give back to the country that they call home.

  Alan Grayson

  Country, Home, Common Sense

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• We can't really have a serious debate about reform on immigration if we don't have operational control of the border. ... With the executive order out there, with the urgency of the threat, I think it's very likely that we'll get something passed, later this year.

  Michael McCaul

  Thinking, Order, Years

  "Becerra expects immigration bill soon" by Seung Min Kim, www.politico.com. February 13, 2013.

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