Rand Paul Quotes

The bottom line is that if politicians weren't in the business of granting favors and exacting tribute, every single issue surrounding campaign finance reform would be irrelevant. After all, why would anyone spend money for influence, access, favors and tribute if the only thing that politicians do is to live up to their oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution?

What we have now is a situation where politicians get a whole bunch of money from mainly business interests. Then once they hold that office, they spend all their time in office paying back over and over again those campaign contributions through various favors and contracts and that sort of thing.

America has the best congress money can buy.

Politicians can be bought and often are.

And when the guy [politician] says “Yes, I took money, but it didn’t influence my vote”? Oh, come on. The company that’s giving you the money thinks it is going to influence the vote. Why else would they give you the money?

A millionaire can buy a Senate seat just as he would buy an opera box or a yacht or any other luxury in which he can afford to indulge himself. In some instances the sale takes the form of open bribery of the legislators; more often the Senate seat was simply the satisfaction of a ‘claim’ acknowledged by the leaders of the party and created by large contributions to the party treasury.

Our government is for sale.

Too often, they play to whatever group is the loudest down at City Hall, and they buy them off, essentially.

The biggest problem that we have is that California is being run now by special interests. All of the politicians are not anymore making the moves for the people, but for special interests and we have to stop that.

The principal reasons that special interests can extract their price from government is money .... Those who do not accept money from PACs are those who have other sources.

A $5,000 campaign contribution to a member of Congress will hardly get you a thank you these days.

Money in politics leads to bad things—and I am bipartisan in that view.

I have been around long enough to know that when large amounts of money are donated to politicians, something besides good government is expected in return.

Congressmen are not bribed anymore. They simply have a lot of friends who are willing to help them out whenever they find it necessary.

Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Congress has become the center of legalized bribery/

Politicians don’t have a spine any more. They pander to whoever will give them money

In Washington, they do take money—I know it’s open, though it’s hard to identify—they take money from the same people they regulate. Now, in New York City, you would never get away with that …

To dissociate politicians from capitalists is slightly disingenuous, to put it mildly. U.S. lawmakers are competitive and auction themselves to the highest bidder via the lobby system.

American democracy is spoiled by people buying everything in sight and then selling and buying everything in sight, including our politicians.

It never fails to astonish me how cheaply a politician can be bought.

Washington's a cesspool of money.

You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak or something like that. But you can take him to a fund-raising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fund-raiser - and have all the same access and all the same interactions with that congressman.

People like Elizabeth Dole have given too much power to the special interests.

As a lobbyist, I thought it only natural and right that my clients should reward those members who saved them such substantial sums with generous contributions. This quid pro quo became one of hallmarks of our lobbying efforts.