Cathy McMorris Rodgers Quotes

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.

Congress is where Americans are supposed to have our big, messy political fights. That's because the people who make the laws need to be hired and fired by the people. Don't like the laws? Fire the lawmakers.

I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong.

This is a country for, of, and by the people not for, of, and by the government. If we turn it over to them we cannot complain about what they're doing because this is a natural course of men and we have to hold their feet to the fire.

Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.

Parliament of the country is the repository of the sovereign will of the people, and its successful functioning is a joint responsibility of both the government and the Opposition.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

Are the governors such exceptionally gifted men as to enable them … to represent the masses and act in the interests of all men better than all men would be able to act for themselves?

... the grand depository of the democratic principles of the Government ...

A Popular Assembly without a Senate cannot be wise. A Senate without a Popular Assembly will not be honest.

No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected.

Whereas the constitution of … Holland is in its principles a popular representation, it is necessary that the right of the people be duly ascertained; that the members of the States be rendered responsible to them for their conduct and be precluded from taking any decisive step without their consent …

Our democracy is designed to speak truth to power.

Democratic government requires the consent of the governed.

The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent on the people's will in such a way that they may be peaceably changed if conflict occurs.

No government can continue good, but under the control of the people.

This Government, the offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support.

As long as the government's actions are secret, it cannot be held accountable. A government for the people and by the people should be transparent to the people.

Accountability is the essence of democracy. If people do not know what their government is doing, they cannot be truly self-governing. The national security state assumes the government secrets are too important to be shared, that only those in the know can see classified information, that only the president has all the facts, that we must simply trust that our rulers of acting in our interest.

The fight for reform comes down to a simple goal: giving our citizens the confidence that government serves the people first and the people only.

Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

When it comes to governments and corporations, we should demand that less is secret. That's where corruption flowers.