Pete Gallego Quotes

No one ever asserts that politics has no role in apportionment or redistricting.

I hate politics. It's slimy. Any job where people pander for votes, I don't like. The country has gotten so partisan that if you're not on my side, you're the enemy. The only thing I ever try to support is a third party, like Unity08. We need more parties and more choice.

Events in America show the extent to which democracy there is fuelled by populism - Barack Obama's victory is a manifestation not of Washington's need for change, but of America's. That is not how democracy works in England.

People know something has gone terribly wrong with our government and it has gotten so far off track. But people also know that there is nothing wrong in America that a good old-fashioned election can't fix.

If a member of Congress doesn’t pay attention to process of reapportionment as the result of the census, he ends up being called “former Congressman.”

The United States is the only major democracy where divided government has become the norm.... For those who are disappointed in the current performance of our national political system, the fault, dear voters, may not be in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are ticket-splitters.

There is nothing wrong with this country that a good election can’t fix.

First they gerrymander us into one-party fiefs. Then they tell us they only care about the swing districts. Then they complain about voter apathy

The middle ground in Congress has all but disappeared. The founders intended competing principles and interests to check excesses and create a balance in our politics that would benefit 'we the people.' Gerrymandered districts and a hyped-up fight-night media offer a partial explanation of why we seem to have neither checks nor balances.

The elections are the greatest symbol of participation and political reform.

In the heat of our campaigns, we have all become accustomed to a little anger and exaggeration. Yet, on the whole, our political process has served us well.

The election before us will be the Austerlitz of American politics.

If you are tired of partisanship over patriotism, you need to vote for a change in direction.

In America, unlike England, unlike Israel, unlike Japan, other democracies, we have elections that have staggered terms.

You cannot say we are a healthy, dynamic democracy when one party wins almost two-thirds of the vote.

We must return conservatives to the majority in the U.S. Senate.

I am sure that the party system is right and necessary. There must be some scum.

I think there's a lot of problems with being a two-party system.

The way to help this country is to limit Republican power.

There is constantly a war going on between the two parties for the populist vote. The populist vote is always the swing vote.

Proportional representation, I think, is fundamentally counter-democratic.

There once was a time when people chose their congressmen. Now congressmen choose their people.

It is very easy to have elections. It is very difficult to consolidate political order.

Nothing Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton did together will ever have as much impact on election results as the partisan makeup of congressional districts around the country.

Our American elections have been fought between parties which, roughly, have represented the forces advocating change and those preferring stability.