Paul Wellstone Quotes (56 Quotes)

The idea of democracy has been stripped of it moral imperatives and come to denote hollowness and hypocrisy.

If a teacher does not involve himself, his values, his commitments, in the course of discussion, why should the students?

What the poor, the weak, and the inarticulate desperately require is power, organization, and a sense of identity and purpose, not rarefied advice of political scientists.

The people of this country, not special interest big money, should be the source of all political power.

cessation from what seems to be a slide toward the bombing of a broader array of non-military targets, a potential oil embargo directed at other countries -- toward deeper involvement in a wider war -- that I believe we will come to regret.

Why don't we call on the credit card companies to be accountable? They need to be held accountable for their predatory lending practices.

Without trying, I'm different.

Politics is not about power.

Politics isn't about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives.

Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning.

Politics is not about money.

If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them.

Victories should be won by people where they live, but if the victories never affect national or international centers of decision-making power, then we are still not seriously contesting for power.

Politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is what we do. Politics is what we do, politics is what we create, by what we work for, by what we hope for and what we dare to imagine.

Sometimes, the only realists are the dreamers.

I'm short, I'm Jewish and I'm a liberal.

The American polity is infected with a serious imbalance of power between elites and masses, a power which is the principal threat to our democracy.

a man of deep convictions. He was a plain- spoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country.

The problem is that this budget, there is no investment. This budget doesn't really represent, doesn't advance the cause of these children. If anything it is a retreat.

Above and beyond the question of how to grow the economy there is a legitimate concern about how to grow the quality of our lives.

Successful organizing is based on the recognition that people get organized because they, too, have a vision.

The kind of national goal we ought to be thinking about is way beyond national product - it is how do we as a nation help our children be the best kinds of people they could possibly be?

When too many Americans don't vote or participate, some see apathy and despair. I see disappointment and even outrage. And I believe that out of this frustration can come hope and action.

I think this is really a good example of the commercial calculus and ties taking precedence over everything else. It's sort of like the almighty dollar is triumphing over a lot of other values that we have as a nation.

A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives, a politics that does not speak to and include people, is an intellectually arrogant politics that deserves to fail.

Where are the resources to make sure that all the children in America have the same chance to do well And when they don't do well on this test, or the schools don't do well, where are the additional resources to help them Not in this bill.

There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics.

We have got to stop saying that we want to do well by children and invest in education and invest in job training and then essentially retreat from that,

As free citizens in a political democracy, we have a responsibility to be interested and involved in the affairs of the human community, be it at the local or the global level.

I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an ideal, but as a real test of community organization. Without leadership development, community organizations do not have staying power.

On ABC's This Week, ... too many people in the country are either not old enough for Medicare, ... or they're not poor enough for Medicaid and they're not fortunate enough to have a good health insurance plan.

I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines.

Education and democracy have the same goal: the fullest possible development of human capabilities.

I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.

The only way to change is to vote. People are responsible.

Our politics are our deepest form of expression: they mirror our past experiences and reflect our dreams and aspirations for the future.

The first task in teaching is to bring to consciousness what the students already believe by virtue of their personal experiences about themselves and society.

We cannot be accountable to the citizens of our country if we go into closed session or secret session and the people in country are all of a sudden cut out that would be a terrible thing to do in a representative democracy.

We had discussion. We had votes. We dealt with issues that were important to people's lives. We voted yes. We voted no. We had some vitality,

I don't think politics has anything to do with left, right, or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people.

I saw as a teacher how, if you take that spark of learning that those children have, and you ignite it, you can take a child from any background to a lifetime of creativity and accomplishment.

The future will belong to those who have passion and are willing to work hard to make our country better.

The vice president can say whatever he wants to say to try to score a point,

What makes community organizing especially attractive is the faith it places in the ability of the poor to make decisions for themselves.

There is a major ingredient missing from our perception of how changes are brought about; that ingredient is power.

Bankruptcy has been a safety net not just for low income people, but for middle income people as well, ... It is being shredded. I think all I can say is, we'll just have to see how history judges us.

I think Bill Bradley has immense personal and intellectual integrity. I think he cares deeply about some issues that are very important to our country, how to get big money out of politics, how to revitalize democracy.

I was talking about no nukes, the farm crisis. People said that wasn't stuff that a state auditor was supposed to be talking about. Maybe they were right.

We can and must move U.S. politics forward by means of committed participation.

I want to make sure there are votes to deal with serious human rights questions, the rights of workers to organize, trade compliance, ... It's something that I can do and should do and I'll be out there. I don't intend to be shut out.