Miroslav Lajcak Quotes

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.

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

These days there are not enough of such intermediary groups, between the state and the individual, with the result that political leaders are often unduly guided by opinion polls.

People who want to understand democracy should spend less time in the library with Aristotle and more time on the buses and in the subway.

The members of Congress are very, very good about sensing what people are upset about.

The government can become so elitist and concentrate on elitist interests. To help the government, you must constantly hold its attention.

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.

It's going very different for citizens of Chicago to know that they have an advocate in the mayor's office - getting rid of the 'us versus them,' the lack of investment in our neighborhoods, the feeling that the only thing that matters is if you're a campaign donor.

We care little about what the average citizen thinks.

We are here today because of grass-roots conservatives all over the place. That's the way the democratic process is supposed to work. It's not supposed to be a bunch of guys in a smoky room in Austin picking the next Senator.

I think we need politicians; we need people who want to serve.

Democracy is not just voting for your leaders; it's really premised upon ordinary citizens understanding the issues.

Politicians are there to try to deal with stuff, but sometimes it's both fortunate and unfortunate that people like us have more... not involvement, but more power in the stuff that we say.

I engage with local politics because it affects people I love. And I engage in national politics because it affects people I love.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear.

I do wait in line, and I do take the subway, and I do my own grocery shopping, and I do take the kids to school. But it almost doesn't matter to a certain segment of the populace.

El Salvador is a democracy so it's not surprising that there are many voices to be heard here. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans... I have heard a single voice.

Everybody has a say, everybody has a voice, because everyone that comes to the House had about 750,000 people they're representing. And you want those voices heard.

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

People who don't vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests.

Most of my town hall meetings had always been love fests, and some of my guys used to complain: 'I'd like for somebody to yell at you a bit.'

The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs.

I want to be an advocate for the people who don't have time to read the newspaper... or the money to make a political contribution.

I love seeing America vote, through the prism of my older working class neighborhood in Riverside, California.

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