Political Quotes

“I say to my colleague from Illinois that we will probably never know the full vetting that took place and the conversations that took place, but your observation that Hobby Lobby involves a parallel with Citizens United is absolutely right. In Citizens United, the Court said: The corporation gets these political rights; that is, the ability to spend money in campaigns, unlimited funds. And in Hobby Lobby, the corporation gets religious rights, if you will--the right to overrule, not just express them through the benefits they provide to their employees, but to trump the religious choices of their employees. It is kind of a super religious power, if you will, choosing the corporation over the people. In both cases, there is this element of choosing the corporation, promoting it, exalting it, over the rights of individuals. Jefferson made a comment in a letter where he talked about the philosophy of the mother principle. The mother principle said that the only way our government will proceed to fulfill the will of the people is if each citizen has an equal voice--not vote, but voice. ``Vote'' was a big piece of that, but he chose the word ``voice,'' as did President Lincoln on another occasion. The point he was making is that you have to have a place where everyone can weigh in, more or less, in equal fashion.…”