Phil Klay Quotes

Our constitutional democracy demands our participation, not just every four years, but all the time.

We are a democracy, and we get the leaders we deserve because we elect them.

You want to be commander-in-chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient.

I think the American people should know there's already strong influences toward another deployment of American troops in an open-ended commitment.

I think it is important to ask ourselves as citizens, not as Democrats attacking the administration, but as citizens, whether a world power can really provide global leadership on the basis of fear and anxiety?

I want young people to be hesitant to glorify war and to demand of their leaders justification for the sacrifices they ask of our citizens.

If I don't run for president, we'll all be OK.

As a Marine officer in combat, I was responsible for the lives and safety of all the Marines who served with me.

As Commander in Chief of the United States Military, I will never send our sons and daughters and our brothers and sisters to die in a foreign land without telling the truth about why they're going there.

If there's a major foreign policy event, the President gets on TV, the Congress doesn't.

The American public should simply accept no distractions. In our democracy, it is our duty to hold our elected leaders accountable. We do it at the ballot box.

You know, the commander-in-chief's first responsibility is look out for those in uniform who fight the wars.

Well, I am a Republican, and I would run as a Republican. And I have a lot of confidence in the Republican Party. I don't have a lot of confidence in the president. I think what's happening to this country is unbelievably bad. We're no longer a respected country.

Everything in our foreign and domestic policy is a question of issue for the American people to vote on.

I was in the Marine Corps in 1971. The idea 'Where does authority come from?' is fascinating to me. And also, the idea of a chaplain is fascinating to me because it's a man of the cloth in uniform, and it's the uniform of a killing machine. Back when I was in the Corps, when I saw that, I was amazed by it.

Canadians want to elect good people to be their voice in Ottawa.

I got to travel around Anbar Province, had a great group of Marines who worked for me who traveled around Anbar Province. I got to hang out with a lot of different types of Marines and soldiers and sailors.

The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.

I tell people I won't vote to go to war unless I'm ready to go or send my kids.

The American people are going to judge the majority party here today. If they go out here and vote for this rule that allows this provision to be stricken, they are voting against the men and women in the military of our country.

It is not patriotic to commit young Americans to war unless our national security clearly requires it.

All of this suggests that while citizens became more comfortable with President Bush after September 11 and thought him to have the requisite leadership skills, they continue to harbor doubts about his priorities, loyalties, interests, and policies.

There are different ways to get responsive government leaders but one of the more effective ways is to have them democratically elected.

Defending one’s state against external aggression is indeed the ultimate test of citizenship.

Although elections are not perfect tools for democracy, they reinforce the relationship between the people and their leaders, empowering citizens to remove and replace their governments in a peaceful and orderly manner. The only basis for a peaceful society is providing people with the opportunity to express their opinions and their will, and elections are instrumental in doing so.