Political Quotes

“Madam President, yesterday was an interesting day for me personally, but it was an interesting day, more importantly, in the history of the United States when it comes to the Equal Rights Amendment. The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in 1923, 100 years ago--100 years ago. It was proposed by a leader named Dr. Alice Paul. At the time, she had just won an important victory. She and her fellow suffragists had just led successfully the campaign to ratify the 19th Amendment to give women the right to vote in the United States--100 years ago. Despite this monumental achievement, Dr. Paul recognized that just the right to vote was not enough for gender equality, but it was the right starting point. So she devoted the remaining years of her life to enshrining gender equality in every facet of American life and particularly into the Constitution with the Equal Rights Amendment. Sadly, Dr. Paul and her fellow suffragists passed away long before they could see the ERA become the law of the land, but their legacy lives on today in a new generation of activists, lawmakers, and trailblazers who are propelling the movement for equality forward. The personal side of this relates to the fact that when I graduated from law school in 1969, I went to work for the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Paul Simon, who later served here in the Senate. One of my first assignments in the Illinois State Senate was to work for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the State of Illinois.…”