George McGovern Quotes

Anybody who thinks that getting a communication from a voter in your district is spam - that guy is pork. Roast pork unless he changes his point of view.

But clearly at the same time you've got to get out there and connect with voters and actually respond to the needs, the frustrations, whatever problems their now saying are not being adequately solved.

You can't keep a democracy going in a functional and constructive way if only 10 percent of the people you represent think your institution is functioning in an acceptable way. That's just not viable.

Is it any wonder, why the approval ratings of the Congress go up every time we go into recess?

I want to thank the people of Texas for asking me to represent them in Washington.

Voters tell politicians what they want through the ballot box. Constantly second-guessing them by speculating whether the parties should gang up on each other misses the point.

Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government, which sooner or later becomes autocratic government.

In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.

Most of my town hall meetings had always been love fests, and some of my guys used to complain: 'I'd like for somebody to yell at you a bit.'

If you're a politician and all you care about is staying in office, you're worried about a small group of voters in your district who vote in the primary. If you're a corporation, you need to be much more in synch with public opinion, because you're appealing to people across the spectrum. Ironically, a lot of corporations have to be far more democratic than democratically elected officials.

Almost any member of ours is more effective with his elected representatives than I am.

A man ain't got not right to be a public man, unless he meets the public views.

Politicians must let voters know what they think about issues before the election. Judges should not.

It's up to us [pro-choice activists] to mobilize public opinion in such a way that these politicians know their jobs are at stake.

I cannot be wholly indifferent to the fact that Senators, by their absence at this time, indicate their want of interest in what I may have to say upon the subject. The public is interested. Unless this important question is rightly settled, seats now temporarily vacant may be permanently vacated.

If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me. While acting as their representative I shall be governed by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is.

No free subject ought to be under the least restraint in respect to accusing the greatest, so long as his accusation strikes only at the political conduct of the accused: his private we have no right to meddle with

My constituents want me to be outspoken - it's part of the reason they elected me - and the inevitable side effect of being outspoken is that, occasionally, you put your foot in your mouth.

Politicians around the world are very different, but they all have one thing in common: The first thing they respond to is public opinion.

I don't really worry what outside groups who score votes think. My job is to represent the people.

The House Freedom Caucus has the same agenda today as it did yesterday, and that is to try to address the needs of each of our constituents, address the concerns the voters have been saying they have for a long time.

My focus has been on being a good congressman, and there is so much other work to do.

As lawmakers, our job is to listen to our constituents. If our phones are ringing off the hook with people demanding to know where we stand on an issue, we pay attention.

It's very hard for politicians to ignore even just a handful of letters about the same issue.

When you're not sure what your constituents want, if you have a more conservative approach, or you have a wait-and-see approach - boy, voters were pretty clear about what they expect.