Democratic Representation Quotes

Corporations and special interests have their voice in Congress, and they have too many members scared of their power. What Congress needs is a progressive voice who is unafraid to take on these powerful interests - who is willing to fight for all Americans, not just the wealthiest 1 percent.

Who are to be the electors of the Federal Representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor

Government legitimacy depends on a public perception of fairness.

I think we can get respect for Parliament back providing governments and oppositions are frank.

You don’t have a democracy. Most Americans want good relations with Cuba, but a few thousand Cuban-American right-wingers control U.S. policy and make everything between us bad.

I'm kind of an accidental instrument, really, through which I hope that the judgment and the will of this nation can be expressed

One big reason liberals come across as intolerant of ordinary Americans today is their preference for court decisions and regulatory mandates over democratically debated and approved legislation. This preference for working around the people’s elected representatives feeds all-or-nothing outcomes that are devoid of the accommodations and compromises which almost always feature in any legislative solution. It is these accommodations and compromises, moreover, that help make the outcome acceptable even to the losing side.

… the failure to evolve some plan by which India could be given a greater sense of independence and security in the future, has been a great disappointment to many people. One cannot help hoping that some new way will be worked out whereby the people of India may feel that the future belongs more surely to them in their own land.

I thought that that was an effort to inject a popular element, a democratic element into the selection of a person who, once he is selected and confirmed, is beyond electoral control.

It is a tribute to Indian democracy that a person from a poor family, an ordinary family, is today addressing the nation from the Red Fort.

We opened the door of the Democratic party, and 30 million Democrats walked out.

I don't actually subscribe to the view that all power corrupts. But absolute power - when secured on the back of massive parliamentary majorities, which don't reflect the balance of political opinion in the country - can corrupt absolutely.

For me, arguably, the European Parliament is the best-functioning European institution. They are extremely good at law-making; they're extremely good at finding compromise under pressure.

The government takes the opposition day debates incredibly seriously.

It's very un-American to say nice things about elites. Elites are often terrible. It's not like we've ever had a perfect set of benevolent democratic elites ruling over our country. But the fact of the matter is that a representative system of democracy delegates power to elites.

Easy money, sudden fortunes, increasingly powerful political machines and blatant corruption transformed much of the nation; and the Senate, as befits a democratic legislative body, accurately represented the nation.

We'll support the government on issues if it's essential to the country but our primary responsibility is not to prop up the government, our responsibility is to provide an opposition and an alternative government for Parliament and for Canadians.

Now is the time to alter our government. Now is the time to stop the movement toward oligarchy. Now is the time to create a government which represents all Americans and not just the 1%... No more excuses. We must all become involved in the political process.

There must not be a party monopoly on power.

It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

A prime minister's job is to make sure the government works for those who have elected him, and not for big corporations.

People feel that in too many ways the EU is something that is done to them, not something over which they have a say.

Our manifesto, whatever it will be called, will come from the people who are really in charge of this country, and that's the American people.

Those of us who were part of creating the Scottish parliament believe we must always test constitutional arrangements. The real test is where do the powers lie? Is it in the best interests of Scotland?