Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I rise to address a topic under the broad notion of the first three words of our Constitution: ``We the People.'' These are the most important three words because they set out the theory, the strategy for our entire Constitution and what it is all about, which is to ensure that we do not have government of, by, and for the most affluent in our society; or government of, by, and for the titans of commerce and industry; but instead a government of, by, and for the people, the citizens. It is within the framework of this Constitution that we find many elements designed to preserve this ``we the people'' purpose. In recent years, in recent decades, we have had major attacks on the theory of our Constitution, ``we the people.'' We had the Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court decision 40 years ago that said it is all right for the most affluent citizens in our society to drown out the people in the election process. We had Citizens United, which said the Constitution doesn't say ``we the people''; it says ``we the titans of commerce and industry; we the corporations.'' So the Supreme Court has made several decisions that have taken us far afield, and we see the results of this. We see the impact of policies crafted by a legislature elected with fabulous sums of money from the people at the height of our society, the height of power and influence, of wealth and connections. Somehow, we have to reclaim our Constitution.…”