Timothy Griffin Quotes

The fundamental division of powers in the Constitution of the United States is between voters on the one hand and property owners on the other.

In our system of democracy, our government works on a system of checks and balances. Instead of stripping power from the courts, I believe we should follow the process prescribed in our Constitution - consideration of a Constitutional amendment.

In Parliament we debate on and we decide the laws that are going to govern the country.

For students, understanding the separate and unique functions of each branch of government can help them understand how different kinds of government officials can help solve different kinds of problems.

We are the only institution in our society that can question a president on a regular basis and make him accountable. Otherwise, he could be king.

You know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a President.

The jam is moving toward the Capitol where Congress sits in judgment on all the administrative agencies of Government.

I happen to agree with many of President Obama's policies, but in our system, it is often as important how you do something as what you do.

The reason it takes so long to pass legislation is to give each and every one of you an opportunity to be heard.

From time to time we must remind ourselves that the President has a role in the legislative process.

We have a constitution that says that the way you get things is by passing legislation, not by threatening to destroy the country unless you get your way.

If the Congress fails then American democracy is dysfunctional.

The beauty of our court system is that anybody can enter the court and sue. Uh, you have to be appointed to be in the Executive Branch. You have to be elected to be in the Legislative Branch, but anybody can go into court.

I will continue to ask the president and his subordinates to work with Congress rather than against it.

As ordinary citizens, we don't spend much time reading about and thinking through the creation of new laws or amendments of old ones.

That fatal drollery called a representative government.

The Democrats' plan for 2006? Take the House and Senate and impeach the president. With our nation at war, is this the kind of Congress you want?

That's what the Senate is about. It's the last bastion of minority rights, where a minority can be heard, where a minority can stand on its feet, one individual if necessary, and speak until he falls into the dust.

The growth of constitutional government, as we now understand it, was promoted by the establishment of two different sets of machinery for making laws and carrying on government.

We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.

In my day, the president ruled with authority before the law, but now all that is lost.

I've been in the legislative branch and now the executive branch and in each case I felt it was important we use our constitutional responsibilities to the fullest.

I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong.

There is also something called the Legislature. There is something called the press. There is something called people. These are all different players on the stage.

I don't order laws, I propose them.