Mike Lee Quotes

The great advantage of representatives is their capacity of discussing public affairs. For this, the people collectively are extremely unfit, which is one of the chief inconveniences of a democracy.

Congress is where Americans are supposed to have our big, messy political fights. That's because the people who make the laws need to be hired and fired by the people. Don't like the laws? Fire the lawmakers.

Elected representatives are so embedded in the basic notion of what constitutes a democratic nation that it has become indistinguishable from any other form of democratic governance.

Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.

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

The people can never err more in supposing that by multiplying their representatives beyond a certain limit they strengthen the barrier against the government of a few.

The wisdom and discretion of Congress ... are the restraints on which the people must often rely solely, in all representative governments

Whereas the constitution of … Holland is in its principles a popular representation, it is necessary that the right of the people be duly ascertained; that the members of the States be rendered responsible to them for their conduct and be precluded from taking any decisive step without their consent …

We elect these people not to represent their parties but to represent us.

We need to be constantly reminded that this is a representative democracy, and we need to be in tune to what people are talking about.

I'm just saying that we need to find a better way to manifest the broader society's aspirations, politically. The key to it has to be some sort of proportional representation, which allows there to be more parties.

Many Americans do not realize that we could institute proportional representation for most elections in the U.S. without amending the Constitution. In helping to educate the public about the potential for voting system reform, CVD can play a central role in a pro-democracy movement right here in America!

The security intended to the general liberty consists in the frequent election and in the rotation of the members of Congress.

Congress would give the people what they wanted if the people knew what they wanted, and if Congress could give it to them.

As far as domestic democracy, all here present know that democracy means government of the people by the people. While we agree that consultation and participation are essential to every democracy, this is seldom achieved in practice.

India is a democracy; it is in our DNA. As far as the different political parties are concerned, I firmly believe that they have the maturity and wisdom to make decisions that are in the best interests of the nation.

As a man of the Congress, let me reaffirm my conviction that the collective wisdom of our two great legislative bodies while not infallible will in the end serve the people faithfully and very, very well.

You can't keep a democracy going in a functional and constructive way if only 10 percent of the people you represent think your institution is functioning in an acceptable way. That's just not viable.

Decision making in a democracy depends above all on knowledge and not just the intel available to presidents and policymakers.

I enjoyed my stay in the Congress. Most people do not. And too many people who have been elected really don't understand the nature of government.

However, democracy cannot be defined as the existence of parliaments and elections alone.

My primary motivation for running for the 9th Congressional District is that I strongly believe that one of the hallmarks of the American democracy is a representative form of democracy.

The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.

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

Senators will do what they think they need to do to represent their constituents.