Dolores Huerta Quotes

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

We cannot run a democracy without a strong middle class.

There is a middle class in America for only one reason: organized labor. If not for organized labor, where would you find a job where you had some sense that you had a shot of leaving behind something better than you inherited?.

You do not keep American democracy in suspense. Because, look, too many people have marched and protested and fought and died for this democracy.

If democracy is control by the people, as it is supposed to be, it is the right form of government. I believe in a complete democracy - individual, political, social, economic. If we really had that, which we don't now, it would be in harmony with divine purpose.

Communism seemed to be an ideal experiment in trying to achieve a state where all persons have greater democracy. I might add, like other persons here and elsewhere, I found myself concerned with the problem of increasing need for greater economic and political democracy for greater numbers of people.

To me, being a Democrat means we can't let 'We the People' turn into 'We the Few.'

For me, the labor movement and public education are linked as the essential building blocks to a strong middle class and a path to the American dream. It's why I went to Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations as an undergrad and then to law school.

Before there were unions, there was no middle class.

I'm trying to stand up so that the middle class, the working class, can finally have a say. I put them as my No. 1 priority.

Until we can democratically control the wealth that is created from our labor, there isn't real democracy.

I will strengthen our unions and our middle-class families so that no longer will they be pushed around by employers but will finally have a seat at the table.

Thinking ahead, what really happens to us will depend on how many people we have who are of the great and sober and dynamic middle-class - the strivers, the planners, the ambitious ones.

Contemporary social democracy is what I believe is the right concept.

Marriage equality is a very middle-class issue and voting rights is a very working-class issue. If you do not vote, who are you speaking for? Who will be the next Fannie Lou Hamer? If not you or someone you know, then who?

I see it as my duty to take a stand for the Iraqi people, for democracy, freedom and reconciliation.

Middle class Americans don't ask for special favors, they just want basic fairness, and a President who fights for that ideal.

Frederick Douglas's agenda was an agenda, not for black people to get out of slavery. It was for America to become a better democracy. And it's spilt over for women's rights; it's split over for worker's rights and so forth.

There are too many people trying to take opportunity from people in the middle class.

For Democrats to win, they're going to have to address the needs of working people. They're going to have to address the needs of the middle class.

Look at the [Bill] Clinton Administration and now the [Barack] Obama administration more recently. What we believe is that we implement policies that help people reach the middle class which is the cornerstone of our economy.

With growing and intermixed minority populations, our democracy can not work optimally unless all people are integrated as full and equal members, and I think our collective freedom requires that.

Imagine what would happen if the government were to take the wealth of 200,000 of India's richest people and redistribute it amongst 2 million of India's poorest? We would hear a lot about socialist appropriation and the death of democracy. Why should taking from the rich be called appropriation and taking from the poor be called development?

We need a growing middle class, not one that has been disappearing for 40 years. We need a vibrant one person-one vote democracy, not one which is dominated by billionaire campaign contributors. It's time for a political revolution. It's time to make our government work for all of us, and not just the 1%.

Of what good is democracy if it is not for the poor?