Charles Best Quotes

We need to find a way to empower citizens to make governments take notice.

A lot of us were worried that the secular fabric of the country was under threat and it was time that citizens begin to speak out. Hence we called ourselves Citizen Speak India.

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

I have seen the times when the grassroots has moved the Congress. We listen way more often to our constituents than the lobbyists. And the grassroots are going to have to do it.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

You can't do progressive government from the inside. You have to rally those outsiders and make them a force.

I have always believed that on important issues, the leaders must lead. Where the leaders fail to lead, and people are really concerned about it, the people will take the lead and make the leaders follow.

I expect we will become more demanding as citizens.

At the end of the day, the government, local government all bow to public pressure.

Things will only improve when the people - all of us - say to authorities, 'I will hold you responsible.' We should all be showing up at city council meetings, lighting up every community with activism and mobilization.

To some degree it matters who's in office, but it matters more how much pressure they're under from the public.

History teaches that the overwhelming majority of elected officials follow movement builders outside government when it comes to the new and risky... Once you recognize it, demand it and reward it, it will happen.

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

As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved - it's the citizen who changes things.

If our governments are so compromised that they will not tell us the truth, then we must step forward to grasp it.

Part of the problem you have is that you don't have a dialogue between elected officials and their constituents. They've built these barricades, these barriers around themselves and tried to avoid interaction with their constituents.

We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices. Every citizen can be a reporter, can take on the powers that be.

If people take the film and screen it whenever possible for their social and professional networks, we can continue to make a difference. It is one more element we have to use in the ongoing effort to take back our country.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

If enough people would come out the right wing, the extremists couldn't dominate.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

It is fascinating to watch legislators turn away from their usual corporate grips when they hear the growing thunder of the people.

Don't count on Congress. Laws come into being because people on the ground demand it.

I do feel, in a sense, the rules of engagement for citizenship has changed, and we must encourage other people to speak up and to take action.

I believe that all students, when asked to be accountable for their actions and to be socially aware citizens, will become agents for change!