Political Quotes

“I join my colleagues in welcoming him back to this body, in which he has served with distinction from his very first day here as he did in the other body. It tears my heart apart to hear of this kind of suppression. In Vermont, we have pride in our ability to vote. We have Town Meeting Day. I think we had 65 or 70 percent turnout this time. We expect people to be able to vote. The distinguished Senator has referred to the civil rights era. Do we, in this great country--a signal of democracy to so much of the world--want to go back there? I am sure the distinguished Senator has had, as I have had, the honor of being an observer of elections in other countries where, finally, a country that has overcome a dictatorship or overcome a civil war, they finally can vote, and the people are lining up and saying: Thank God we have a chance to vote and it is open for the first time. They would say: You Americans would never have to experience this. I don't want to go to these countries that we ask to come into the fold of democracy and ask them to have free and open voting and have them--those that do not want free and open voting--say: What about what you have done in your country? This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. This is an American issue. We fought a revolution. We fought world wars. We worked to make this country of over 300 million people great because everybody's voice is supposed to be heard. I think it is shameful and I think it is illegal.…”