Matt Gaetz Quotes

We put together a one-sentence petition asking Congress to censure President Clinton and move on to other pressing issues. We sent it to under 100 friends and family, and within a week we had 100,000 people sign the petition.

We didn't come here to become Washington, we came here to change Washington.

You can’t change Washington from the inside. You can only change Washington from the outside.

We've got activists all across the country like the members of the Million Mom March organization, some of their leaders are here tonight. We're phone banking congressional offices and pursuing editorial boards.

It's time for an American comeback... where leaders in Washington listen to 'we the people.'

In order to have your voice be heard in Washington, you have to make some little contribution.

Like most thoughtful people who watch what's going on in Washington, venting is very necessary.

To pass a big idea in this town. You almost need social unrest

We will send a petition to Washington with boots on.

Changing social policy is just dogged hard work.

What I intend to do is be just a really fierce advocate for Minnesotans here in Washington, D.C.

All I can do is pay attention, listen to what people in Minnesota are saying and do everything I can to bring that voice to Washington.

It's important that people press from the outside. It's important that people are able to make change from the inside. Both of those things are important. Protest is fundamentally a political act.

We're here to let the Democrats know that the grass roots and the anti-war movement elected them to create change.

I'm always happy when I'm protesting.

I think direct political action, civil disobedience, in particular, is something to be taken very seriously.

Sometimes things need to get really bad before they can ever get better. Really bad can become untenable if enough people get sick of it. That was a big thing about why I ended up taking part in that rally [against police brutality] and ended up voicing my opinion and declaring what side I was standing on.

Most of my work for the past 25 years has been devoted to organizing demonstrations, benefits and campaigns, many of which have had the effect of bringing a policy debate to public focus or moving a political agenda forward. It's become a cliché to say 'think globally and act locally,' but it works.

Come senators, congressmen, Please heed the call, Don't stand in the doorway, Don't block up the hall, For he that gets hurt, Will be he who has stalled, The battle outside ragin', Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, For the times they are a-changin'...

We need groups like the Women's March reminding elected officials that they have a responsibility to create pathways of opportunity, and if - and when - they aren't doing that, everyday people are going to put a little "extra" on their ordinary and extraordinary things will happen. At this moment, the not-so-quiet voices rumbling across the country and the world are saying we absolutely and unequivocally deserve better.

The revolution will not be televised.

We live in the age of communication. Write letters to the editor. Speak to your congressman, to your senator. If you are young, especially young people are taken by this human rights activities. They should organize the universities.

I don't accept armed struggle. Maybe it was the way in the '50s and '60s, but we want a democratic revolution.

Democracy depends on people speaking out, and in times of great crisis, on people creating a commotion.

We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided! Let's fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.