Political Quotes

“I rise today to join Senator Leahy and a number of our colleagues to remember our friend, John Lewis, and reflect on his legacy. It was a little over a year ago when John shared his final message to the American people. He wrote, ``Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.'' John devoted his entire life to building that ``Beloved Community.'' And in his final moments, he called on all of us to carry that mission forward. He told us it is now ``your turn to let freedom ring.'' We have an obligation to live up to John Lewis's legacy--and his call to action to protect our most fundamental freedom of all: the right to vote. And we can do that by restoring and revitalizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, it marked the beginning of a new era of American democracy. It ensured that our constitutional rights were not merely sketched onto a piece of paper, but enforced as well. It ensured that poll taxes, literacy tests, and other Jim Crow laws could no longer be used to deny Black, Brown, and indigenous voters access to the ballot box. In the words of John Lewis, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ``helped liberate not just a people but a nation.'' It brought America closer to our foundational ideals. But today, this monument to American freedom is under attack.…”