John E. Jacob Quotes

Activists are generally doers - rather than watching television and thinking about the world they will put there energies into doing something 'active' to change the (political) situation.

No politician can sit on a hot issue if you make it hot enough.

Social movements are at once the symptoms and the instruments of progress. Ignore them and statesmanship is irrelevant; fail to use them and it is weak.

If you don't like what's going on, you have to get involved.

Advocacy: Advocacy for America

I think voting is the lowest form of political action that you can do. A lot of times, it keeps people from doing stronger things.

The big umbrella issue is, do I make a bigger difference on the outside of political process or on the inside?

There is a weapon we can fight with. That is the weapon of political action.

We can all become activists and raise questions.

Activism, to me, I don't know if it really works. It may work for somebody else, but it does not work for me.

Traditionalists will have to master techniques of sustained activism formerly monopolized by the left.

In politics, demonstration not description is the name of the game.

Activists set the agenda for the practitioners.

A few people with a clear agenda can make a big difference in government.

Policy makers do the right thing only if the public makes as much noise as possible.

You can get from a politician whatever you demand in this country. The great irony is that everybody complains about how it runs but not enough people direct their force and power directly at the politicians and make demands upon them. Ours is a system that abhors remoteness. If you're remote from this political system, it'll kill you.

Politicians are, in general, receptive to those who make the most noise.

Activists take the risks, while advocates are professional tinkerers with the system. What's necessary is for those who are advocates to support those who are activists and to envision themselves as activists.

If you're going to change things, you have to be with the people who hold the levers.

It is important to show up. Showing up at marches and rallies and town halls and protests.

Calling representatives every single day, arranging local community meetings, and marching in the streets every Sunday. It's not the path to glory, but it's absolutely essential to maintaining a democracy under threat.

I grew up around politics. I organized my first campaign when I was 14, a walk-out in my high school to protest the year-round school schedule.

You just have to find your activism, and don't let anyone tell you what that should look like. If you're doing the work, and you're getting someone to think, you're on the right path.

Rallies, marches on Washington, protests, et al. are pointless if there is no action to make them mean something.

Before running for the Washington State Senate in 2014, I had spent 20 years as an activist. I had always believed that we needed to push for change on the outside, through community organizing and advocacy.