Political Quotes

“I want to reiterate for those of us who are statutory citizens, i.e., citizens by virtue of congressional action, we represent a unique category of human beings that are under the American body politic, proud Americans, but recognizing that we have a unique status. That is why this amendment is necessary, because it speaks to the issue not just of political self-determination, but ultimately to the issue of who has that right to self-determination. This is not the same kind of election that one has when one votes for elected officials. We have fought long and hard in this country to make sure that that kind of voting is extended to all those people who are represented by elected officials. But this is an issue of political self-determination. When you are born in Wisconsin or born in Idaho, you cannot get up in the morning and decide that Idaho or Wyoming should have one day an election which gives them the full range of choices about whether they should be independent or have a special relationship with the United States. They are a State. They are full and equal partners in the American body politic. The Civil War has settled that issue once and for all. But what do we have here? We have here a unique group of individuals, of people who have been subsumed into the American flag through conquest, and by virtue of that they have always been extended citizenship through congressional action. It is their status that is at stake.”