Jennifer Pahlka Quotes

The era of big government is over, but the era of big challenge is not. We need an era of big citizenship. There are many important people at this summit, but the most important title is 'citizen.' This is our republic. Let us keep it!

It's really remarkable when you think about what we don't like about government, we, the people created. So if we created it, we can also fix it.

Democracy belongs to those who exercise it.

There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.

To speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.

I'm a citizen in a democracy. To call me an activist would be redundant. It's not a spectator sport. If we all become non-participants, it no longer works.

I actually do not think that's how what's happening to our government is going to be stopped. I think people who are willing to be civically engaged and believe in the promises and the progress of the last fifty years that will save this country.

A republic is not an easy form of government to live under, and when the responsibility of citizenship is evaded, democracy decays and authoritarianism takes over.

I always say there's no ticket of admission for active citizenship. Anybody can get through that gate, and anybody can ask that basic question that gets the ball rolling.

Democracy is the most demanding of all forms of government in terms of the energy, imagination, and public spirit required of the individual.

Politics should be the part-time profession of every citizen.

The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.

Our democracy is not something to be taken for granted. You have to fight for it. You have to commit yourself to working for it - for the long haul.

You're a sovereign as a citizen. If you're not involved in your government, you're not doing your job. In the long run that's very bad for the Republic.

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

As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.

I feel a real responsibility to my community and so right now there has been this bizarre myth in our community how our vote doesn't count. I'm trying to get out there and re-educate on how the government works and break that myth and talk about the importance of being involved.

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Being a citizen in a democracy involves more than just voting. It means being involved for the common whole.

Political involvement is more than a game.

We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.

If you believe in democracy, than you can't trash it by being cynical about the people who do democracy: the politicians.

Real change begins with citizens registering to vote, becoming active and engaged in their communities, and casting their ballot at every election for those who will fairly and accurately represent them.

The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote.