Jill Stein Quotes

No citizen or social group can be completely isolated from politics, because policy decisions and actions affect their lives.

As an American I must say I haven't been very encouraged by the way in which the people who run the government in the United States have been listening to those contrary voices. And so long as the power to run the world lies in the hands of people who are quite happy to see it get warmer, or fuel be used more, then would those people who oppose it are crying in the wilderness - that's the real problem.

We got a lot of politicians up there on Capital Hill. Ain't it funny how they prosper while the country stands still?

Al is, and always has been, the person who has been the candidate - the elected official. And he is the one who makes policy. As his wife, I have the wonderful opportunity to advocate for causes that I am passionate about, and I'm thankful for that.

Since 2001, people have been scared. There's been some really scary stuff that's been happening - 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, anthrax letters, D.C. sniper, global warming, global financial meltdown, bird flu, swine flu, SARS. I think people really feel like the system's breaking down.

The world we live in has been and is being increasingly politicised so that our daily experience is more and more a matter of public policy.

This country has always been run by elite, and it's an elitist democracy. And that's not a radical concept. It's elitist democracy. When people talk about democracy, they don't talk - really talk about participatory democracy, until the point that we get us at Election Day.

Do we sufficiently appreciate how omnipotent is opinion in the matter of all government? Do we consider especially in how true a sense it is the creator, must be the upholder, and may be the destroyer of our united government?

Governments are sails, the people is the wind, the state is the boat, and time is the sea.

Sometimes political parties have a very short window to influence public policy

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

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

Public opinion is very important in the United States. It affects the way Congress deals with issues.

Politics is a leading indicator.

You can get from a politician whatever you demand in this country. The great irony is that everybody complains about how it runs but not enough people direct their force and power directly at the politicians and make demands upon them. Ours is a system that abhors remoteness. If you're remote from this political system, it'll kill you.

Every once in a while, an election comes along, and who you are and what you believe gets subsumed in a larger tide. It just happens.

The inertia of the governed cannot be disentangled from the indifference of the government. American leaders have both a circular and a deliberate relationship to public opinion.

We think the government is running the country, but it is just a policymaker. Unknowingly, people are inviting the government to run their lives. The only business of the government is to come up with the right policies.

Political books are so often written from the perspective of the politicians, not from the point of view of the people.

There have been a lot of crossover with celebrities and politics but to me, I don't think I would go into politics.

Think tanks are chiefly supposed to provide independent expertise to policymakers. But they also seek to be politically relevant.

Public opinion shapes public policy dramatically.

Politics is not just about voting one day every four years. Politics is the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the road we walk on.

We just watched this budget debacle right? Seventy-three percent of Americans want to tax the rich. Why can't the politicians respond to that? Because they are the rich. And they are beholden to the rich. It's a captured system.

We're in a very, very profound crisis. It's so obvious that no one in the power structure, either the corporate power structure or the political power structure, knows what to do or is willing to do what's necessary in relationship both to global war and global warming. It's so obvious that conditions are getting worse for the great majority of Americans. It's so obvious also that we face a very serious danger from people who feel, see themselves only as victims. And we have to somehow, in a very loving way, help the American people to recover the best that is in our traditions.