Jay Inslee Quotes

I think our politicians are bought by the highest bidder and that until we clean up our election system, then we cannot make progress on any of the issues. That's what drives me - we must restore our democracy.

Elections with integrity are a challenge everywhere, including in the West.

Until we totally change the way we elect our leaders, until we remove private money from public campaigns, lying will be the de facto method of governance in this country.

The American system of democracy is founded on the concept that every citizen has the right to vote, to know that their vote is counted, and that the vote is counted accurately.

All voting systems are capable of being corrupted. most of them have been or will be ... simply because voting is the way we determine who gets power in this great country.

Why is there so much resistance among people who work in the Government to the seemingly obvious fact that, in our democracy, if the Government lies, it will eventually get caught

If we don't allow people to vote in America, what is our democracy? It's a sham.

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.

With every new class of representatives that comes to Congress, there is a greater recognition of the perils of private financing of campaigns. I believe that by pulling back the curtain on the daily pressures faced by members of Congress, we can show the public how critical this reform is to the salvation of our democracy.

Here in Maine, we know that the system of special interests influencing elections runs contrary to our democratic values.

Republicans support opening the floodgates to special interest money and suppressing the right to vote. It's just plain wrong.

The American people's vote can't be bought.

If we, as individuals, want to keep control of our democracy - rather than have a government paid for by corporate interest checks - then we have to fight back now and make sure our system reflects the belief that people, not corporations, control our democracy.

And in Canada we, you know, it costs us three or $400 million to have an election. You know, it's always been my position that we shouldn't complain about that; that's the price of admission for a living in a great democracy.

I'm not going to reduce the choices of Canadians at the ballot box by backroom deals or secret arrangements. I think that's a cause for cynicism more than anything else.

In a democracy, the one thing that cannot be done is to destroy its trust, its hope, its idealism.

I believe both parties are sending the wrong kind of people to Washington, D.C.

You would like me to say that the veil will be ripped from the voters' eyes sometime between now and November, thereby restoring the proper version of Democracy to the House and Senate. I won't say that, of course. The simple reason is, I don't know.

... elections are no longer representative.

This is one of the finest expressions of U. S. democracy at work.

Frequent return to the bar of their Constituents is the strongest check against the corruptions to which men are liable, either from the intrigues of others of more subtle genius, or the propensities of their own hearts…

Don’t vote. it only encourages the bastards.

I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.

Voting is completely important. People in America think democracy is a given. I think of it as an ecosystem, and what gets in the way of it is politicians and apathy.

The very foundation of our democracy depends on the integrity of our elections.