Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Quotes

On the show, we are not trying to get people to eat their vegetables; we are not trying to get people to become Democrats. We are basically trying to encourage people to get involved with public life so that politics isn't left to the wealthy and privileged.

There's a temptation not to vote at all as a protest, but it's definitely not a protest. In fact, all it does is keep the people in power in power, and I don't think they should be.

Voters do not decide issues. They decide who will decide issues.

Wherever you have votes, you have power.

If someone says, 'Democracy is a sham, those people don't speak for me... the system's rigged,' you say, 'Vote.' Someone says, 'I was making a statement by not voting,' and then you say, 'Well I can't hear it.'

We pride ourselves on our democracy, but when you see the way it actually works, I think it is worthy of contempt.

It is a huge myth that our voices don't matter, that our vote doesn't count.

All Americans deserve to see, speak to, and hear from our candidates. No county is insignificant, no community too small, and each person's vote is important.

Take it from me: Elections matter.

We can change the direction of the country with our vote.

The good news is dollars don't vote, people do.

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

The government must give men and women without power a real say over what happens to them, and the means of engaging in a participative, invigorated and living democracy.

Power is action; the electoral principle is discussion. No political action is possible when discussion is permanently established.

In a democracy there are only two types of power: there's organized people and organized money, and organized money only wins when people aren't organized.

And in Canada we, you know, it costs us three or $400 million to have an election. You know, it's always been my position that we shouldn't complain about that; that's the price of admission for a living in a great democracy.

Politics is not perfect but it's the best available nonviolent means of changing how we live.

In general people feel more relaxed about participating in politics. They aren't frightened as they used to be.

I'm the one who initiated the democratic process.

As I said, I spent most of my adult life thinking I didn't have a vote, and therefore that what I thought didn't matter.

To make democracy work, we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.

People who don't vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests.

In a democracy, supposedly we hold power by what we do at the ballot box, so therefore the more we know about political power the better our choices should be and the better, in theory, our democracy should be.

Voting is a civic sacrament.

The only way to change is to vote. People are responsible.