Political Quotes

“Madam President, my colleagues and I come here today to speak out against the hijacking of American democracy by powerful special interests. It was 2 years ago this last Saturday that the Supreme Court found in Citizens United that unlimited secret funding of campaigns in America is just fine. This is not an opinion shared by Americans who understand that secret donations corrupt the electoral process. It is not an opinion shared by virtually everyone who serves in this body, who has come to this floor and talked about transparency and accountability. Certainly it is a viewpoint that would be very strange to the authors of the Constitution. What are those first beautiful three words of the Constitution? Are they, ``We the powerful''? Are they, ``We the special interests''? No, they are not. Those three words are, ``We the people.'' Virtually every schoolchild in America can tell you that. ``We the people.'' That is what American democracy is all about. The entire Constitution is written for the prosperity and success for the rights of the citizens of the United States of America. Indeed, it was President Lincoln who captured the genius of American democracy in this phrase: A government of the people, a government by the people, for the people. Citizens United is the opposite. Secret unlimited donations are an instrument of the powerful. Secret unlimited donations are an instrument of very large companies. Our Constitution honors free speech.…”