George Papandreou Quotes

People in New York pay attention to national issues - a huge percentage of people.

Read the editorial page of your local paper. It introduces you to opinion and can be terrifically provocative and perhaps a great motivating force for you to get involved in your community, regardless of your political ideology.

If you're trying to talk about public issues and politics and showcase it in a positive, different way, I think people like the idea.

The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.

I'm moved to think about the political state of our country right now. Most people who go out and vote have a very clear sense of what's right and wrong. And a lot of those people who don't aren't sure, so they don't go out and vote.

And I think that every American - this is an all-hands-on-deck moment for America. And I think it is good and important that every American is informed, understands the issues and whether I agree with them or not, comes into the public forum and we hear from them.

Since an early age I was taught to be very politically aware and knew from childhood that the process was something I wanted to contribute towards if I could.

I don't think there was really a time when I have not been politically aware.

Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.

Democracy is not just voting for your leaders; it's really premised upon ordinary citizens understanding the issues.

I haven't been paying attention to politics long enough to have really smart opinions.

The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.

Democracy is something that you must learn each generation. It has to be taught.

I can't afford to be indifferent to politics, but I don't have personal ambitions.

Governments never learn. Only people learn.

You have educate the masses to exactly what their tax dollars are going to pay for. I think once people educate themselves and open up their minds to understand that on that really basic level, then you'll have some type of change in the way that Americans associate themselves and participate in their own political process.

Sitting around our kitchen table from a very early age on, we talked politics, and we talked policy. Never once can I ever remember my dad saying, 'Go away, this is an adult conversation.'

I don't get political.

The effective functioning of our constitutional democracy depends upon the participation in public life of a citizenry that is well informed

Whatever we do in government, teaches.

For America to work, Americans have to participate. If they don’t pay attention, they’re going to get screwed.

I hope we can use television somehow to begin to reengage people in this conversation of democracy.

Citizens are refined, cultivated, and very political. I believe in the legitimacy of their participation.

We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.