Rural Representation Quotes

As one of the voices of rural New Yorkers in Congress, I am committed to supporting efforts such as these that will make a real impact in people's lives.

When Sir Winton Turnbull [who represented a large rural seat], a slow and sometimes stumbling speaker, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Country member." I interjected "I remember." Sir Winton could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides.

How … can one person be given twice or ten times the voting power of another person ... merely because he lives in a rural area.

I feel at some point that the farm state politics will overwhelm the Florida politics.

I have represented farmers in federal court during the Iowa farm crisis. A farmer from Butler County. I don't think Sen. Grassley had that life experience. It's just a simple difference of who we are and where we've come from.

Democracy cannot be a plaything for the capital cities. It has to infiltrate every nook and cranny in the country, including the village.

In the Illinois State Capitol, in Springfield, farmer-legislators write the agriculture laws.

Moscow has merged city voting districts with adjacent rural ones so as to dilute the urban vote with the more conservative and rural one,

If you fill your Agriculture Committee with representatives of commodity farmers, and you don't have urbanites, you don't represent eaters, okay? You don't have people from New York City on these committees, you are going to end up with the kind of farm bills we have: a piece of special interest legislation.

I am proud to have played so many non-urban characters because I feel the heart of real India beats in the non-urban areas.

I don't know how the other senators see me. I hope they see me as a farmer. That's really what I am. But I don't think they see me on a tractor or fixing equipment. I hope they see me grounded, as somebody who has common sense.

Rural voters believed the Democrats traded millions in campaign cash at their expense. Along came a guy named Trump to give these voters a political voice.

Members of the Academy are mostly urban people. We are an urban nation. We are not a rural nation. It's not easy even to get a rural story made.

If Democrats are not showing up in those [rural] places even if you're not gonna win right away but if you're not in there at least making an argument that, "Hey, you know what? It's the Democrats who are trying to raise your minimum wage."

There's no question about it. If you look at the map, there's hardly any [Democrats representing rural districts]. There's me, [Rick] Nolan, [Tim] Walz, [Dave] Loebsack and Cheri Bustos. So that's five. And all the rest of them are in urban cities. That's a problem.

Well not really to get attention, but to entertain, but you know to show some elements of rural life as well, it kind of blended all in, its kind of like a mockery in a sense, kind of stab back at people that have those stereotypical ideas of the south.

Rob Quist is Nancy Pelosi in a cowboy hat.

Writers who aren't from rural states in the Midwest or the West often treat such people as if they were the Waltons or the Beverly Hillbillies.

Being a farmer is a great qualification to have to serve in the United States Congress.

As a kid who grew up in Montana, I resent regulation being formulated and forced in Washington from bureaucrats that have never been to Montana.

Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but 40 percent of our military is rural. I don't believe that's because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that's because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can't just keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back.

Even though rural people make up only 20 percent of the population, they represent 25 percent of the total votes cast. That is a huge difference…. Rural states get proportionately more power….right in the beginning the system was permanently fixed to maintain this rural, agrarian dominance.