Zephyr Teachout Quotes

When governments become large, voters cannot exercise close oversight, otherwise known as political power.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

Of course we should have only the government we need. But we must insist on all the government we need.

To lead a country, you must periodically hold a national consultation in which people representing different programmes can make a bid for power.

Our laws to be wholesome need not be enacted in a palace.

In this country the government responds to the people, not the other way around.

Give all of the governed a voice in their government; that and that alone is self government.

The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage…

We don’t trust government, but we need government….Government didn’t land here from Mars. We elected them.

Well, will anybody deny now that the government at Washington [America], as regards its own people, is the strongest government in the world at this hour? And for this simple reason, that it is based on the will, and the good will, of an instructed people.

Serving in the U.S. Congress is about much more than voting on bills. It is about taking on the corporate bullies that taint our democratic process and pushing back when the system is broken.

Citizens do not just make up and preserve a Republic; they are its ultimate stakeholders and in fact pillars.

Beyond providing some level of scrutiny of Kenyan MPs, we built Mzalendo to demonstrate that there is only so much bemoaning you can do about your representation.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from contempt for all government.

As taxpayers, we pay our elected officials to serve the people and protect our state and our interests.

Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.

The government must give men and women without power a real say over what happens to them, and the means of engaging in a participative, invigorated and living democracy.

I'm just the democratic voice of Bolivia.

We need to remind our core supporters that we have not forgotten their concern with the way our democracy is being replaced by European bureaucracy in so many areas.

The Transparency Bill is something we should all support - practical steps in promoting an open and accountable democracy.

Elections do have consequences, and those we elect and far too often re-elect have forgotten how government works and for whom they work for, and that an ever growing, power hungry state and federal government are not the answer to the problem, but 80% of the time are the problem.

It is unfortunate that people believe that in order to democratise something you have to get politicians out of the system.

It's time for an American comeback... where leaders in Washington listen to 'we the people.'

The American public should simply accept no distractions. In our democracy, it is our duty to hold our elected leaders accountable. We do it at the ballot box.