Cornel West Quotes

The fossil fuel industry commands outsize sway over U.S. politics, markets, and democracy. I knew these companies were formidable, but when I served on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, I got a close up view of how the industry disregards government safeguards.

For decades the American people have had an addiction to oil and gas.

The government protects corporations, not people and other animals.

The carbon fuels industry-big oil and coal-have a 50-year lease on the Republican Party and they are drilling it for everything it's worth.

With 1 million square miles of the Arctic melting unexpectedly this summer, these are warning signs that we have to act and act now. Our addiction to Middle Eastern oil obviously has security implications, and we think it's about time to be generating Eastern Washington wind energy instead of sending our money to the sheikhs.

Very big business is in bed with very big government in Washington, and has more to do with what the average person sees, hears and reads than most people know.

We think we're near energy independence - nothing could be further from the truth. We're in much better shape now, but the price of a barrel of oil is going to be controlled by the Middle East for the next 10, 20, 30 years for sure.

In environments where corporations become too interventionist and capture regulation themselves, the government must be able to battle back so that the people have a chance.

Surely by now there can be few here who still believe the purpose of government is to protect us from the destructive activities of corporations. At last most of us must understand that the opposite is true: that the primary purpose of government is to protect those who run the economy from the outrage of injured citizens.

Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey. And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we're hooked on.

Workers know first-hand how corporate capture of government is undermining their rights and freedoms as citizens.

Let's make Marco Rubio explain why he thinks oil companies should write our energy policy.

Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.

Our government is a bird with two right wings... They're devoted to the perpetuation & spread of corporate capitalism.

Actually we're not hearing a lot about gas prices right now from constituents. And I think that reflects a growing understanding on the part of the public, that there really is very little that the government and politicians can do.

The similarity is that concentration of capital influences virtually everything that goes on. It influences the way the media functions, it very powerfully influences how the government works and it of course influences corporate sector elements, like say how Google or Amazon present materials that reach the public.

One of the reasons that I am in favor of less government is because when you have more government, industrialists take it over.

I think we need to go straight at the fossil fuel industry.

We were able to conclude a Paris climate agreement, which will lead the way for the rest of the world, which is groundbreaking. And together with the sustainable development goals of the agenda 2030 for the whole world, this is indeed a sea change, I think, that we see here, and, step-by-step, it will be implemented.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association is behind the bills which have been trying to pre-empt states' labeling laws in the Senate. And they have a lot of money and power in Washington. So it's a classic David versus Goliath story, where corporate lobbying outweighs consumers' rights.

The people see that Wall Street is running our economic policy, that big oil is running our energy policy and the military industrial complex is determining our foreign policy.

Unlike George Bush and his friends at the big oil companies, I'm going to work for a real energy policy for this country that decreases America's dependence on foreign oil and helps lower the costs to American families.

[Hillary Clinton'] transition director being Ken Salazar, I think, indicates that she will continue to be a friend to fracking. It's not possible to solve the climate crisis while we continue to expand fracking.

The profits of oil, coal, and natural gas companies will have to yield to the imperative of sustaining life on earth.

I think Barack Obama has been a terrible disappointment environmentally. It's very sobering to realize, as a westerner, that under the Obama administration, we now have more active oil and gas leases on public lands than Americans ever did. Obama has been worse.