Political Quotes

“I am delighted to be here with my colleague Pramila Jayapal from Seattle, Washington. We wanted to talk about what has been happening over the last week with the executive orders on immigration and asylum that have taken place, and we want to try to take a broad perspective on this; to put it in some historical, legal and constitutional context; and then also to talk very specifically about the executive orders and what has been taking place with them in different parts of the country; and about the multiple Federal judicial rulings imposing injunctions on enforcement of those orders. But I wanted to begin, actually, by stepping back from the heat of the current crisis and looking, instead, at the idea of America. Well, what is the idea of America? America was created, as the great Tom Paine said, as a haven of refuge for people fleeing political and religious repression from all around the world. Remember the radicalism of the American Revolution and our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. We were the first Nation on Earth conceived in revolutionary insurgency against monarchy, dictatorship, autocracy, theocracy, and the merger of church and State.…”