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State Legislatures Quotes

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State Legislatures Quotes

“I've learned the importance of changing people's minds at the grassroots level so that whoever does run will have a much better chance of encountering public opinion that reaches a critical mass and brings about a change not only in White House policies but in the Congress and in the state legislatures and all around the world.”

PeopleWorldMindDoeStatesRunningHouseChanceWhiteLevelsOpinionPolicyMassImportanceCongressCriticalAround The WorldI've LearnedWhite HousePublic OpinionLegislatureGrassrootsState LegislaturesCritical Mass
Author:Al Gore
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“The late proceedings of those daring invaders to establish a national religion have opened the eyes of all lovers of liberty and religion... I have been told they have thrown off the mask and are preaching to the people to elect none but godly men to represent them in the General and State Legislatures; ... what they mean by godly people, is people of their own stamp.”

PeopleMenMeanHas BeensStatesEyeLibertyAtheismLoversLatePositive AtheismThrownMaskDaringPreachingGodlyStampsLegislatureProceedingInvadersState LegislaturesGodly Man
Author:Anne Royall
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“We live amid falling taboos. In our crowded little hour of history we have seen how the prejudice of religion no longer can bar the way to the White House. Some of you may live to see the day when the prejudice of sex no longer places the Presidency beyond the reach of a greatly gifted American lady. Long before them, I hope you will see a woman member of the Supreme Court of the United States. In Congress and in our State Legislatures we need more women to bring their sensitive experience to the shaping of our decisions.”

WayNeedsMayLittlesLongStatesFallHousePoliticsSexWomenHoursWhiteDecisionUnitedUnited StatesMembersPrejudiceCourtCongressSupremeBarsSensitiveWhite HouseGiftedPresidencySupreme CourtCrowdedTabooLegislatureState Legislatures
Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
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“We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed.”

IfsNeedsShouldChildrenStatesHappensSchoolParentLevelsPolicyChangedTaughtEducationalUnhappyLocalsReformBoardsGovernorsLegislatureCurriculumState LegislaturesSchool Board
Author:Marco Rubio
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“Fast food workers are all the governor has power to enact. Your state legislature is held hostage by the same nitwits that hold hostage the federal [government]. People who have confused suffocating collectivism, which is bad, for a necessity to solve collective action problems, which is what all human endeavor is based on.”

PeopleHumansStatesProblemGovernmentActionWorkersSolveConfusedCollectivesEndeavorGovernorsFederal GovernmentLegislatureCollectivismFast FoodHostageSuffocatingState LegislaturesCollective Action
Author:Nick Hanauer
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“... the State Legislatures will jealously and closely watch the operations of this Government, and be able to resist with more effect every assumption of power, than any other power on earth can do; and the greatest opponents to a Federal Government admit the State Legislatures to be sure guardians of the people's liberty.”

PeopleStatesGovernmentAbleEarthCan DoLibertyWatchesEffectsOperationsOpponentsAssumptionFederal GovernmentGuardianLegislatureState LegislaturesJealously
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“All laws for the purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition. All laws defining and punishing blasphemy - making it a crime to give your honest ideas about the Bible, or to laugh at the ignorance of the ancient Jews, or to enjoy yourself on the Sabbath, or to give your opinion of Jehovah, were passed by impudent bigots, and should be at once repealed by honest men. An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures.”

MenGivingShouldIdeasStatesAbleLawSpiritPurposeEnjoyBornOpinionLaughingFireHonestCrimeIgnoranceOughtProtectWorshipBuiltInfiniteAncientJewPartnershipDefiningLegislatureHonest ManSabbathBlasphemyJehovahWorship GodBigotsInquisitionDungeonsEnjoy YourselfState Legislatures
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Maybe this Democratic president[Barack Obama] did and can get comprehensive health care reform passed, but notice, Medicaid is not expanded in any of these dark red states. The Republican Party may not be able to repeal Obamacare, but it certainly, through its state legislatures and governorships, has managed to halt Obamacare`s full impact.”

MayStatesCareAblePresidentDarkPartyRepublicanRedImpactDemocraticReformBarackHealth CareRepublican PartyComprehensiveObamacareLegislatureHaltPresident Barack ObamaHealth Care ReformMedicaidState LegislaturesNotice Me
Author:Melissa Harris-Perry
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“I think our message,the Clinton campaign was very strong. Remember, this is their fourth campaign in South Carolina. Two for Bill Clinton. Two for Hillary Clinton. They had it well organized. They did well. And Icongratulate them. We came into that state at something like 7 or 8 percent in the polls. It was a tough road for us to hoe. But I want to thank all of our supporters, the members of the South Carolina state legislature.”

ThinkingWantWellsTwoStatesRememberStrongMembersMessagesPercentToughBillsClintonSouthCampaignsOrganizedVery StrongFourthSupporterPollsLegislatureCarolinaSouth CarolinaHoeState Legislatures
Author:Bernie Sanders
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“It's going to be very important that we as women's rights advocates are involved in redistricting of both the states legislatures and of the House of Representatives and that we not lose seats but we gain seats for talented women and our country, but we're lacking behind.”

ImportantCountryStatesHouseLosesBehindsRightsInvolvedGainsOur CountrySeatsRepresentativesWomens RightsLackingLegislatureHouse Of RepresentativesState LegislaturesRedistricting
Author:Eleanor Smeal
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“What's blinking red on my radar is the fact that for people who prioritize abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, or voting rights, those things are coming out of state legislatures, and some of the laws on reproduction stuff is coming out of city council, and so what's getting at me is the fact that there's just a fundamental lack of understanding that these laws are happening and being created by people who often won by ten votes in a midterm election.”

PeopleStatesFactsLawStuffUnderstandingCitiesRightsTenHappeningsRedVoteElectionFundamentalsAbortionVotingComing OutCouncilLegislatureReproductionRadarRight To VotePrioritizeLack Of UnderstandingAbortion RightsState LegislaturesMidtermsCity CouncilMidterm Elections
Author:Lizz Winstead
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“To strengthen the grassroots at the party - at the party unit, at the county level, at the precinct level, and then to help motivate and facilitate the local grassroots to get out there and turn out the vote and boost turn out. And then to help govern in places where we do hold city councils and state legislatures.”

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Author:Keith Ellison
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“Hopefully folks will look at the good things that I've done over the years, you know, my 10 years in Congress, my 12 years in state legislature, my many years of community organizing for the environment, for police accountability, for criminal justice reform, economic empowerment, trying to fight for small-business people, all these things.”

PeopleKnowsTryingYearsLooksStatesDoneFightingCommunityJusticeEnvironmentEconomicEmpowermentPoliceGood ThingsCongressFolksCriminalsReformHopefullyAccountabilitySmall BusinessLegislatureCriminal JusticeState LegislaturesEconomic EmpowermentCommunity Organizing
Author:Keith Ellison
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“The excuse of divided government is over: they have the House and the Senate as well; they have the state legislatures; they have a majority of the governors. And that's exciting. But for me, I think the lesson also is all the opportunities out there for women, increasingly in politics and media and public policy and government affairs - all the things we do here in Washington - that we still have to make choices, there are limits.”

ThinkingWellsStillsStatesGovernmentChoicesOpportunityHouseMediaPolicyLessonsLimitsExcitingMajorityAffairExcuseDividedSenateGovernorsLegislaturePublic PolicyState LegislaturesDivided Government
Author:Kellyanne Conway
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“Work can be undertaken to create an authentic independent political party, a real party, based on popular participation from the ground up, not a top-down candidate producing organization like the two official parties, working from school boards to state legislatures and beyond. Not easy in the regressive U.S. political system, but not impossible.”

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Author:Noam Chomsky
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“We were just at the beginnings of a recovery [in 2010]. And the, you know, whoever is president at that point is gonna get hit and his party's gonna get hit. That then means that suddenly you've got a redistricting in which a lot of state legislatures are now Republican. They draw lines that give a huge structural advantage in subsequent elections.”

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Author:Barack Obama
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“Despite two decisions, in 2008 and 2010, by the U.S. Supreme Court unequivocally affirming that the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms against infringement by the government, state legislatures continue to do just that - enact laws that significantly infringe this fundamental human right.”

HumansTwoStatesGovernmentLawIndividualDecisionArmsBearsConstitutionFundamentalsCourtSupremeDespiteGuaranteesAmendmentsSupreme CourtLegislatureSecond AmendmentAffirmingState LegislaturesInfringement
Author:Bob Barr
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“We have to stand up for these issues when it's tough, and that's what I've done. I did it when I was in the state legislature, sponsoring the Illinois version of the DREAM Act, so that children who were brought here through no fault of their own are able to go to college, because we actually want well-educated kids in our country who are able to succeed and become part of this economy and part of the American dream.”

WantWellsChildrenCountryStatesDoneDreamKidsAbleEconomyIssuesCollegeSucceedToughFaultsImmigrationVersionsEducatedOur CountryAmerican DreamLegislatureImmigration ReformIllinoisWell EducatedState LegislaturesDream Act
Author:Barack Obama
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“The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both.”

PeopleIfsGivingShouldMayMadeStatesPowerGunConstitutionBlindCongressPursuitConstructionAmendmentsRestraintGun ControlPretenseLegislatureSelf DefenseProhibitionSecond AmendmentRight To Bear ArmsBearing ArmsClausesRights And FreedomsFounding Fathers Gun2 AmendmentFounding Fathers Second AmendmentDisarmingState LegislaturesPatriotic Gun
Author:William Rawle
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“The appointment of senators by the state legislatures . . . is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment, and of giving to the state governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government, as must secure the authority of the former.”

GivingStatesGovernmentAuthorityAdvantageSecureFormerAgencySenatorsFederal GovernmentSelectFormationLegislatureAppointmentsState GovernmentFederalismState Legislatures
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“Nothing can be more evident, than that an exclusive power of regulating elections for the National Government, in the hands of the State Legislatures, would leave the existence of the Union entirely at their mercy . . . . It is to little purpose to say that a neglect or omission of this kind [not letting the feds have elections], would be unlikely to take place. The constitutional possibility of the thing, without an equivalent for the risk, is an unanswerable objection.”

KindLittlesStatesHandsGovernmentWould BePurposeExistenceRiskPossibilityMercyElectionUnionsFedsNeglectEvidentUnlikelyExclusiveLegislatureObjectionsOmissionFederalismState Legislatures
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“For the same reason that the members of the State legislatures will be unlikely to attach themselves sufficiently to national objects, the members of the federal legislature will be likely to attach themselves too much to local objects.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“there ought always to be a constitutional method of giving efficacy to constitutional provisions. What for instance would avail restrictions on the authority of the state legislatures, without some constitutional mode of enforcing the observance of them? . . . This power must either be a direct negative on the state laws, or an authority in the federal courts, to over-rule such as might be in manifest contravention of the articles of union.”

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Book:The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States
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