Norman Finkelstein Quotes

I've learned the importance of changing people's minds at the grassroots level so that whoever does run will have a much better chance of encountering public opinion that reaches a critical mass and brings about a change not only in White House policies but in the Congress and in the state legislatures and all around the world.

You don't change minds in Washington with sweet reason. You do it to the white light of public opinion.

In political science, public support doesn't have a reverse gear. It always goes forward.

I really feel that political will is born out of popular will.

58% of the American public are with us. We're preaching to the choir, but the choir's not singing, if all of the 58% started singing, this war would end.

Party action should follow, not precede the creation of a dominant popular sentiment.

If you can’t move the public, you can’t move the Congress.

The power and influence of public opinion has increased, and the driving force of the nosiest elements of public opinion tends in excited times to consist, not of majorities, but of minorities.

Campaigns have consequences.

The most peaceful means of changing public policy: It's called politics.

Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion can change the government practically just so much.

We got to hit the country while the country's hot. That's the only thing that makes any impression to these goddamned senators.... We don't want to wait just for their convenience.... They'll move as the country moves.

As long as public opinion influences politicians, those who can influence public opinion will have great political weight

Being a politician, I know how motivating it can be when the public is outraged.

I felt that for 20 years, I was wooing the people of my country and asking them to like me as an actor, and when they liked me as an actor, I told them, 'Now, you like my politics.'

I assure, the door to politics is never closed. Whatever medium is necessary to reach the masses, I will take that - be it cinema or politics.

I demonstrated through my work that I can rally other people to support legislation and get it passed.

Dealing with politicians, that's a little different. But government doesn't change until people demand it.

Protest is, at its core, designed to move policy.

I have said it before and I will continue to say that I don't think art is the most effective form of protest. I don't think it changes policy; I think it changes discourse, and discourse can change ideas, and for me, that's what it's about: having that space for conversation.

I think it would be very good if writers and artists take a stand in electoral politics. They've got the ability to put words together that might reach the ears of the people of the city who vote.

I understand what's going on in people's minds, and I think the political leaders better be asking themselves 'why is it, that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and maybe even others are having the impact that they are having?'

To think that because those who wield power in society wield in the end that of government, therefore it is of no use to attempt to influence the constitution of the government by acting on opinion, is to forget that opinion is itself one of the greatest active social forces. One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.

When you talk about Social Security, it's not just enough to say, we're looking at you, this really matters. It's the fact that a million Americans think it matters. Oh, wait, it's 2 million Americans think it matters. No, it's 4 million Americans. It's 6 million, wait, it's 10 million, it's 50 million Americans who care about this. That's how we're going to make change.

I think one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing, and activities on the ground, that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power throughout which you bring about redistributive change. And in some ways, we still suffer from that.