Medgar Evers Quotes

There are ways to pursue political change. In a democracy, it's through the ballot box. There are other ways, and many democracies have many different systems of democracy.

It's a long time until the next election, but it starts now. And if you truly want to see things change in the direction that our country is headed, you have to stay involved. You cannot quit now.

If people don't vote, everything stays the same. You can protest until the sky turns yellow or the moon turns blue, and it's not going to change anything if you don't vote.

We can change the direction of the country with our vote.

The best way to appreciate our political process is to volunteer for a campaign and support a candidate you believe in.

I just want people to know that if they want to change the direction of the country, they can do it, but only if they're active, informed, and engaged.

We shall never change our political leaders until we change the people who elect them.

The democratic process is only as great as the people who participate in it.

I'm not ready to give you a clear answer on whether electoral politics holds any particular hope for progressives. It would mean that nothing I did ever mattered.

In our democracy, political parties have to raise funds to campaign and put their policies to the electorate, and as a proud supporter of the Labour Party, I am happy to be in a position where I can make a contribution to its ongoing work.

I didn't set out with the notion of running for elective office; it sort of grew over time. And I honestly at times questioned if progressive change can be effected through elected office.

Organising free and fair elections is more important than the result itself.

The Tea Party movement went off on a more extreme agenda that I did not support at all, and was very frustrated by it, to the point that not only did I change parties, I decided to do something about it and run for Congress.

To make democracy work, we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.

It is perfectly evident to any logical mind that when you have got the vote, by the proper use of the vote in sufficient numbers, by combination, you can get out of any legislature whatever you want, or, if you cannot get it, you can send them about their business and choose other people who will be more attentive to your demands.

I spent 10 years fighting for reform in Cook County, and I didn't change my DNA when I got to Washington.

Conventions don't nominate people anymore. Primaries do.

It is unquestionably the duty of the industrial classes, by means of the ballot, to speedily take the Government into their own hands, but in doing so to do justice to all.

The mythology is that political change happens only in election years. The truth is you build from election to election.

I'm going to Congress to break down the doors of power.

Even before I could vote, I was involved in the political arena. My father was an admirer of Adlai Stevenson, and he took me to the Stevenson for President headquarters, and he volunteered me. That was my introduction to electoral politics, which was exciting and fun and thrilling and very theatrical.

Even though I grew up and I didn't always like getting dragged to the meetings or the rallies or the speeches, I developed a very strong respect for participating in a democratic process.

I think that building political power has to come from the outside and from within. Meaning, we have to build political alternatives to the existing system, and we have to try to impact what is happening in the existing system.

The problem with the Democratic Party is, we're like, 'If we just get another presidential candidate in there, everything will be OK.' We should be focusing on school boards, city council races, state legislatures.

I have recently taken on two major challenges: running the CHC BOLD PAC and serving Los Angeles as our voice on the Energy and Commerce Committee.