Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to spend a few minutes with the Senate and the American people to talk to them about this great body in which we serve. I know there are all kinds of pundits and commentators who talk about how the ``system is broken.'' They point to what has been going on in Washington in the last few months and say it shows that we need a complete change in the way we enact laws; that it just doesn't work anymore, and what is going on is terrible, awful. I want to take a few minutes and historically review what our country is all about. In the summer of 1787, the Founding Fathers were meeting in Philadelphia, and they were having a very difficult time. They had tried a number of ways in the past to keep the country together. They had the Articles of Confederation. They knew it wasn't appropriate; it wasn't working. In June of 1787, a delegate from Connecticut came to a conclusion, and he had an idea that he would suggest to other members in the delegation--the Founding Fathers--about how they could come up with a constitution. That is why they were there. His suggestion was full of merit because they had not been able to solve the problem of the great State of New York, a huge area with millions of people, and the little State of Connecticut, a very small area and a few people--how could those two States be together in the same Union? They had already decided they were going to have three separate branches of government.…”