Political Quotes

“But I think, when we do this, we do lose something. I think we lose our soul. That is what you lose when you scapegoat a group of people, a whole group of people who have never even asked us to legalize gay marriage. Scapegoating is ugly. History has seen it too many times. You know that and I know that. Groups of people who are different are identified. It becomes 'we' versus 'them.' Their identity as individuals is lost and they become faceless. Special rules are written for them. They are singled out as a group. Read the history books, my colleagues. You will find it there. We are all Americans in this country, regardless of our differences. We are Americans first. We are God's children, all of us, regardless of our differences. Why do we need to craft a piece of legislation designed to hurt our fellow Americans when there is absolutely no need to do it? President Clinton, who comes to a different conclusion on this bill than I do, writes in his book 'Between Hope and History': . . . we must make a choice . . . shall we live by our fears and define ourselves by what we are against, or shall we live by our hopes and define ourselves by what we are working for, by our vision of a better future . . . that is a choice we must make every day. This DOMA bill, in my opinion, is a statement of what we are against. It does nothing, it does not do one thing, to make Americans' lives better.”