Leonard Garment Quotes

People underestimate the impact they can have on the process through contact with legislators. By being part of an organized group in an area that you have an interest in, you can multiply the impact of your own ideas.

Lobbying is not a bad thing. I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't have lobbyists or we shouldn't have lobbying to petition our government. It's in the Constitution, and it's something that should be honorable and good.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

It is unfortunate that Americans are no longer aware of what the constitution says and what their rights are. Because of that, we are often very passive about what happens when the government violates those rights.

Most people working day in and day out do not have the time to come to Washington to look out for their interest. Moreover they don’t know how.

We have a right to know and a duty to discover what you think of the great constitutional issues of our time.

Lobbying, in large part, is conducted to prevent change from happening.

Whenever I tell people I am a lobbyist, there is an embarrassed pause.

Everyone who lobbies represents someone’s particular point of view.

You name me a profession and I’ll name you a lobbyist that represents them.

What kind of government is this? This is a human being. This is not right, and I'm telling everybody you better call your congressman, because they're going to run your life.

I think it's appropriate in America for anyone to speak out and say what their reaction is to the president's State of the Union speech.

Attending that Convention and talking with those people and many others convinced me that I should become a blogger in my efforts to reform the government and uphold the integrity of the Constitution and the laws made in furtherance thereof.

I want to make it clear that the lobbying sector does an important job. It is very useful to the government to hear the views of a broad range of groups to make sure we get the best.

Political scientists after World War II hypothesized that even though the voices of individual Americans counted for little, most people belonged to a variety of interest groups and membership organizations - clubs, associations, political parties, unions - to which politicians were responsive.

There is so much that can be done, you see, the assembly is about improving our democracy.

No citizen is apolitical; as a citizen, by definition, has to take interest in public affairs.

I don't think that voters should be fixated on public policy. In a healthy republic, they wouldn't have to worry every waking hour about what their government is doing.

People have tremendous power, more than the average person understands, and certainly more than even I understood before I came to Congress. When any of my constituents writes me a letter, I promise you, we're listening.

Caring about policy is important - people in washington forget.

Learn the Constitution. Then when someone wants to be elected, hold their feet to the fire and make them follow it because that's what we need to get back to. It works so well when we follow it.

If I'm elected president, I'll make people's voice the foundation of policymaking.

The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare.

The Constitution does not expressly provide for a right of association. Gradually, however, the 1st Amendment and the ‘liberty’ interest secured by the Fourteenth Amendment have been interpreted to protect a person's right to associate with others who share similar ideas, interests, and goals. Self-government is more than Self. In many ways, America is a nation of joiners. Americans band together to seek friendship, cooperation, and concerted action.

I hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the constitution, the rules of this house and the rights of my constituents. It is for the sacredness of the right to petition that I have adopted this course. Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of God.