Political Quotes

“all day the new majority has proposed a package of rules meant to symbolize a return of Government to the people. But there is one element of the rules package which flies in the face of democracy, which strengthens Federal control over the lives of citizens, which disempowers local Government and which makes this House less accessible to U.S. citizens, and that is the denial of the delegates their opportunity to vote in the Committee of the Whole. Those who argue that against the delegate vote forget the past struggles of breaking down barriers to participation on the basis of gender, race, poll taxes and land ownership. Now, as we confront the issue of fellow citizens who die like you for that flag, who serve like you for that flag and who remain spectators in this country's affairs, our history is conveniently forgotten. Those who would deny the participation of people from Guam, a place symbolized in the national consciousness in World War II as the only inhabited U.S. territory invaded and occupied since the war of 1812, which was the land from which much of American power has been extended into Asia and the Pacific during the cold war. Guam was one of the major bases used to fight the Vietnam war.”