Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on something Ms. DeLauro said, which I think is very important. She pointed out that it was Senator Robert Dole, a Republican from Kansas; and Senator George McGovern, a Democrat from South Dakota, who came together and said: We have this extraordinary agricultural bounty and surplus in America. We could be feeding the entire world. Certainly we could be feeding the people of America. Most people are able to afford it, but not everybody, and not at every point in their life. We should make sure that, in the wealthiest society that has ever existed, everybody has the opportunity to eat three meals a day for $1.40. Ms. DeLauro said that we don't have the giants that we had then. I don't know if that is true. I consider the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) a giant. But I think what has changed is the public philosophy that is governing in Washington. I think there is a public philosophy that survives in town, which says that government is a moneymaking opportunity for the President and a handful of people: the President's friends and the people who surround the President. People are actually making money coming into government. Whereas, the traditional ideal--the one I think Ms. DeLauro invoked with Senators Dole and McGovern and the new deal and Franklin Roosevelt--was government is an instrument of the common good to benefit everybody to advance the general will. What has happened to our concept of government in America? Ms. DeLAURO.…”