Kofi Annan Quotes

It's abominable, and it's a disgrace to a great democracy to see what's happened in our country. The main reason for that has been the enormous infusion of high quantities of money to campaigns - governors, Congress, president and the U.S. Senate.

The only tool we have to fix the problems of this country - the democratic process - is itself broken. Which is why nothing will fundamentally change until we solve the problem of money in politics.

I would like to have an ample fund to spread the light of Republicanism, but I am willing to undergo the disadvantage to make certain that in the future we shall reduce the power of money in politics for unworthy purposes.

I think that Obama's failure to reestablish the rule of law in money matters is the most damaging thing that he's done - and perhaps the most damaging thing that has happened in American politics in my lifetime. Because once the rule of law is absent in money matters, then anything really goes in politics.

It starts with campaign finance reform.

Our democratic system is slowly being corroded and eroded by the influence of PAC money.

The biggest issue that we have to contend with is campaign finance reform.

Here in Maine, we know that the system of special interests influencing elections runs contrary to our democratic values.

Unlimited campaign spending eats at the heart of the democratic process.

Fundamental problem in American democracy is that we are allowing congressmen and senators to be bought and sold like sneakers.

Citizens United said that transparency would be the disinfectant, but (c)(4)'s are warm, wet, moist incubators. There is no disinfectant.

Our only real hope for democracy is that we get the money out of politics entirely and establish a system of publicly funded elections.

I think that's most unfortunate about our Democratic system, that you're confining it to people who are either very wealthy in their own right or have capacity to gain access to large amounts of money.

At the end of the day, money is just a proxy for votes. That is what makes politics so vulnerable to social media.

Until we totally change the way we elect our leaders, until we remove private money from public campaigns, lying will be the de facto method of governance in this country.

I have a lot of stands on a lot of political issues. I'm very big on campaign finance reform. I still think most Americans aren't aware of how the dumping of big corporate dollars and private donor dollars has totally corrupted the political system and taken it away from them.

The reality is that asking the public to fund political campaigns accomplishes nothing. Candidates continue to seek interest-group support through other channels, both financial and in-kind, and corruption problems abound.

There can only be democracy when money is not allowed to be spent in Politics.

I'm not overly alarmist about it, but I do think there are some worrying signs, like the growing accumulation of wealth by a very small proportion of the population, plus elections in the US are much more dominated by money than anywhere else calling itself a democracy.

Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale.

But having said that, what's happening with campaign finance reform and our political culture is devastating.

I'm not going to reduce the choices of Canadians at the ballot box by backroom deals or secret arrangements. I think that's a cause for cynicism more than anything else.

I don't think people want to see someone buy a congressional race.

It's hard to make corruption a partisan issue because voters are cynical about everybody in politics.

If not checked the power of money will soon control the elections of the President, the senators and the members of the House of representatives.