POLITICS
Power goes to two poles -- to those who've got the money and those who've got the people.—Saul Alinsky
A free and open society is an ongoing conflict, interrupted periodically by compromises.--Saul Alinsky
Eighty percent of success is showing up.—Woody Allen
At critical times the authorities always claim they have no authority.—Anonymous
NAFTA and GATT have about as much to do with free trade as the Patriot Act has to do with liberty.—Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Presidential candidate
When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it in practice.—Bismarck
[O]ur leaders do not mean well. They do not have any noble goals of democracy and freedom and all that jazz.... And as long as an American believes that the intentions are noble and honorable, it's very difficult to penetrate that wall.—William Blum, author and critic of American foreign policy
The media is un-independent. They are the mouthpiece of the government.—William Blum, author and critic of American foreign policy
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their government.—William E. Borah
A free and open society is an ongoing conflict, interrupted periodically by compromises.--Saul Alinsky
Eighty percent of success is showing up.—Woody Allen
At critical times the authorities always claim they have no authority.—Anonymous
NAFTA and GATT have about as much to do with free trade as the Patriot Act has to do with liberty.—Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Presidential candidate
When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it in practice.—Bismarck
[O]ur leaders do not mean well. They do not have any noble goals of democracy and freedom and all that jazz.... And as long as an American believes that the intentions are noble and honorable, it's very difficult to penetrate that wall.—William Blum, author and critic of American foreign policy
The media is un-independent. They are the mouthpiece of the government.—William Blum, author and critic of American foreign policy
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their government.—William E. Borah
We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.—Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
At the moment, we have leaders in this country who care more about the short-term profits of big corporations than they do about the long-term well being of the average working man and woman.—R.T. Buffenbarger, IAM, September 20, 2004
You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.—Charles Bukowski, poet and postal worker, author of Post Office
Labor Unions are the leading force for democratization and progress.—Noam Chomsky
When the unions declare their independence by raising their demands in a unified and coordinated manner, as they are beginning to do, it will mean that a formal political independence is not far off.--Shamus Cooke
Representative William Lacy Clay, Sr.
If you object to unfair treatment, you're an ingrate. If you seek equity and fair consideration, you're uppity. If you demand union security, you're un-American. If you rebel against repressive management tactics, they will lynch and scalp you. But if you are passive and patient, they will take advantage of both.— Congressman William Clay, Sr., speaking to the AFL-CIO Federation of Government Employees, 1975
You must start with the premise that you have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.— Congressman William Clay, Sr.
I have no intention of representing those powerful interests who walk over powerless people.— Congressman William Clay, Sr.
Political capital is not powder to be kept dry; it is a muscle that gets stronger with use.--comment on the political blog Daily Kos
If you go to the city of Washington, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of congress, and mis-representatives of the masses claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad that I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, not from the ranks.—Eugene V. Debs
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.— Denis Diderot
Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.—Frederick Douglass
The state of the Union largely depends on the state of the unions.—Evan Esar
You must start with the premise that you have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.— Congressman William Clay, Sr.
I have no intention of representing those powerful interests who walk over powerless people.— Congressman William Clay, Sr.
Political capital is not powder to be kept dry; it is a muscle that gets stronger with use.--comment on the political blog Daily Kos
If you go to the city of Washington, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of congress, and mis-representatives of the masses claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad that I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, not from the ranks.—Eugene V. Debs
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.— Denis Diderot
Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.—Frederick Douglass
The state of the Union largely depends on the state of the unions.—Evan Esar
Tommy Douglas was the father of Socialized Medicine in Canada, and as such is one of the most revered and beloved political figures that country has ever known. In the 1940s, Douglas would often give this speech about a place he called Mouseland which explains in simple terms why our political leaders never seem to be able to make our lives any better. A few years back, Canada's National Democratic Party put the speech to animation. It's worth thinking about the next time someone tells you that you must choose between the lesser of two evils. We can choose to stop electing cats altogether.
Samuel Gompers
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.—Benjamin Franklin
To a right-winger, unions are awful. Why do right-wingers hate unions? Because collective bargaining is the power that a worker has against the corporation. Right-wingers hate that.— Janeane Garofalo, 2005
Why should unions support a political party that is in the control of corporate interests that the unions were designed to thwart in the first place? How can the unions get better pay and benefits for its workers when the political party they support is controlled by management?--Timothy V. Gatto, countercurrents.org (October 5, 2010)
It is impossible for capitalists and laborers to have common interests.—Samuel Gompers
What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright.—Samuel Gompers
Our movement is of the working people, for the working people, by the working people. . . . There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too long endured that we are not determined to abolish.—Samuel Gompers
Where trade unions are most firmly organized, there are the rights of the people most respected.—Samuel Gompers
Really what we would like to see is to take these unions out at the knees so they don't have the resources to fight these battles.—Scott Hagerstrom, Michigan Executive Director of billionaire Koch Brothers front group Americans For Prosperity, February 2011, shortly before Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ginned up a fiscal "crisis" to do just that.
I can’t recall a moment in my lifetime when government was so extremely out of step with the will of the American people. But it seems like the only fight to be had these days is to see who can screw the middle class the hardest.--Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake ("Up Is Down")
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.—Judge Learned Hand
I want political action that counts. I want a working class that can hold an election every day if they want to.—William Dudley "Big Bill" Haywood
When Reagan and Bush were running in 1980, they said, "We're going to get American industry moving again." And they did--to Taiwan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia--everywhere except here.—Jim Hightower, columnist and commentator
We want a better America, an America that will give its citizens, first of all, a higher and higher standard of living so that no child will cry for food in the midst of plenty.—Sidney Hillman
To a right-winger, unions are awful. Why do right-wingers hate unions? Because collective bargaining is the power that a worker has against the corporation. Right-wingers hate that.— Janeane Garofalo, 2005
Why should unions support a political party that is in the control of corporate interests that the unions were designed to thwart in the first place? How can the unions get better pay and benefits for its workers when the political party they support is controlled by management?--Timothy V. Gatto, countercurrents.org (October 5, 2010)
It is impossible for capitalists and laborers to have common interests.—Samuel Gompers
What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright.—Samuel Gompers
Our movement is of the working people, for the working people, by the working people. . . . There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too long endured that we are not determined to abolish.—Samuel Gompers
Where trade unions are most firmly organized, there are the rights of the people most respected.—Samuel Gompers
Really what we would like to see is to take these unions out at the knees so they don't have the resources to fight these battles.—Scott Hagerstrom, Michigan Executive Director of billionaire Koch Brothers front group Americans For Prosperity, February 2011, shortly before Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ginned up a fiscal "crisis" to do just that.
I can’t recall a moment in my lifetime when government was so extremely out of step with the will of the American people. But it seems like the only fight to be had these days is to see who can screw the middle class the hardest.--Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake ("Up Is Down")
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.—Judge Learned Hand
I want political action that counts. I want a working class that can hold an election every day if they want to.—William Dudley "Big Bill" Haywood
When Reagan and Bush were running in 1980, they said, "We're going to get American industry moving again." And they did--to Taiwan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia--everywhere except here.—Jim Hightower, columnist and commentator
We want a better America, an America that will give its citizens, first of all, a higher and higher standard of living so that no child will cry for food in the midst of plenty.—Sidney Hillman
Photo by Brendan Hoffman
Better to have government owned banks than a bank owned government.--comment on The Huffington Post
From the social point of view, the educational systems are oriented to maintaining the existing social and economic structures instead of transforming them.—Wilhelm von Humboldt
The mountain rests on the earth: the image of splitting apart. Thus those above can insure their position only by giving generously to those below.—I Ching (The Book of Changes)
If the vote could do you any good, they would make it illegal!—Industrial Unionist slogan
One man with courage makes a majority.—Andrew Jackson
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government.—Thomas Jefferson
The last time I saw EFCA [the Employee Free Choice Act] was on the back of a milk carton.--Martin Johns, 5/21/11
There is a joke circulating that goes like this:
A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party and a Big Corp CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, looks at the tea partier and says, "Look out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."--Dave Johnson, economic/industrial writer and Fellow at Campaign For America’s Future, as well as a former CEO ("America Waking Up To The Value Of Unions")
The least powerful person in the country, understanding collective bargaining, can become the most powerful, and that is what politics is all about.—Nellie Stone Johnson
I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.—Mother Jones
From the social point of view, the educational systems are oriented to maintaining the existing social and economic structures instead of transforming them.—Wilhelm von Humboldt
The mountain rests on the earth: the image of splitting apart. Thus those above can insure their position only by giving generously to those below.—I Ching (The Book of Changes)
If the vote could do you any good, they would make it illegal!—Industrial Unionist slogan
One man with courage makes a majority.—Andrew Jackson
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government.—Thomas Jefferson
The last time I saw EFCA [the Employee Free Choice Act] was on the back of a milk carton.--Martin Johns, 5/21/11
There is a joke circulating that goes like this:
A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party and a Big Corp CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, looks at the tea partier and says, "Look out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."--Dave Johnson, economic/industrial writer and Fellow at Campaign For America’s Future, as well as a former CEO ("America Waking Up To The Value Of Unions")
The least powerful person in the country, understanding collective bargaining, can become the most powerful, and that is what politics is all about.—Nellie Stone Johnson
I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.—Mother Jones
Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
I understand very well the profound human need for convenient solutions, but I do not see why truth should bow to this need.—Carl Jung (Psychological Types)
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.—John F. Kennedy
Don't believe that winning is really everything. It's more important to stand for something. If you don't stand for something, what do you win?— Lane Kirkland
The essence of the Progressive movement, as I see it, lies in its purpose to uphold the fundamental principles of representative government. It expresses the hopes and desires of millions of common men and women who are willing to fight for their ideals, to take defeat if necessary, and still go on fighting.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from men who are aggressive for what is wrong.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
Where there can be shown to be no difference in labor cost, I am for free trade. But the difference must be determined by real experts who understand the use and limits of statistics.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr. (emphasis added)
There never was a higher call to greater service than in this protracted fight for social justice.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America.—John L. Lewis
The balancing of the budget will not in itself place a teaspoonful of milk in a hungry baby’s stomach, or remove the rags from its mother’s back.—John L. Lewis, 1933
If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.—Abraham Lincoln
We live in the richest country in the world. There's plenty to spare and for no man, woman, or child to be in want. And in addition to this our country was founded on what should have been a great , true principle -- the freedom, equality, and rights of each individual. Huh! And what has come of this start? There are corporations worth billions of dollars--and hundreds of thousands of people who don't get to eat. --Carson McCullers
Rapid growth in wealth inequality results in the inevitable isolation of a very small, very rich, very privileged section of the community from the material experiences of everyone else. And when this out-of-touch minority group is enfranchised to make the decisions on behalf of people they don't know, can't see, have no wish to understand, and think of entirely in dehumanised, transactional, abstract terms, the results for the rest of us are devastating.--Sally McManus, Australian trade unionist
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.—John F. Kennedy
Don't believe that winning is really everything. It's more important to stand for something. If you don't stand for something, what do you win?— Lane Kirkland
The essence of the Progressive movement, as I see it, lies in its purpose to uphold the fundamental principles of representative government. It expresses the hopes and desires of millions of common men and women who are willing to fight for their ideals, to take defeat if necessary, and still go on fighting.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from men who are aggressive for what is wrong.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
Where there can be shown to be no difference in labor cost, I am for free trade. But the difference must be determined by real experts who understand the use and limits of statistics.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr. (emphasis added)
There never was a higher call to greater service than in this protracted fight for social justice.—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.
Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America.—John L. Lewis
The balancing of the budget will not in itself place a teaspoonful of milk in a hungry baby’s stomach, or remove the rags from its mother’s back.—John L. Lewis, 1933
If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.—Abraham Lincoln
We live in the richest country in the world. There's plenty to spare and for no man, woman, or child to be in want. And in addition to this our country was founded on what should have been a great , true principle -- the freedom, equality, and rights of each individual. Huh! And what has come of this start? There are corporations worth billions of dollars--and hundreds of thousands of people who don't get to eat. --Carson McCullers
Rapid growth in wealth inequality results in the inevitable isolation of a very small, very rich, very privileged section of the community from the material experiences of everyone else. And when this out-of-touch minority group is enfranchised to make the decisions on behalf of people they don't know, can't see, have no wish to understand, and think of entirely in dehumanised, transactional, abstract terms, the results for the rest of us are devastating.--Sally McManus, Australian trade unionist
George Meany
Every piece of progressive social legislation passed by Congress in the 20th century bears a union label.—George Meany
One cannot have a trade union or a democratic election without freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly. Without a democratic election, whereby people choose and remove their rulers, there is no method of securing human rights against the state. No democracy without human rights, no human rights without democracy, and no trade union rights without either. That is our belief; that is our creed.—George Meany, 1979
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.-- George Jean Nathan
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.—Martin Niemoeller
You know very well that whether you are on page one or page thirty depends on whether they fear you. It's as simple as that.—Richard Nixon
If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself and I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.—Barack Obama (as candidate), November 3, 2007
The essential point here is that all people with small, insecure incomes are in the same boat and ought to be fighting on the same side. Probably we could do with a little less talk about’ capitalist’ and ‘proletarian’ and a little more about the robbers and the robbed.--George Orwell (The Road To Wigan Pier)
You win some, and some get stolen.—U.S. Representative C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID)
When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty.—Thomas Paine
One cannot have a trade union or a democratic election without freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly. Without a democratic election, whereby people choose and remove their rulers, there is no method of securing human rights against the state. No democracy without human rights, no human rights without democracy, and no trade union rights without either. That is our belief; that is our creed.—George Meany, 1979
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.-- George Jean Nathan
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.—Martin Niemoeller
You know very well that whether you are on page one or page thirty depends on whether they fear you. It's as simple as that.—Richard Nixon
If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself and I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.—Barack Obama (as candidate), November 3, 2007
The essential point here is that all people with small, insecure incomes are in the same boat and ought to be fighting on the same side. Probably we could do with a little less talk about’ capitalist’ and ‘proletarian’ and a little more about the robbers and the robbed.--George Orwell (The Road To Wigan Pier)
You win some, and some get stolen.—U.S. Representative C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID)
When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty.—Thomas Paine
Cartoon by Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News
Demanding domestic security in times of war invites carelessness in preserving civil liberties and the right of privacy. Frequently the people are only too anxious for their freedoms to be sacrificed on the altar of authoritarianism thought to be necessary to remain safe and secure.-- US Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) (Cong.Rec., 09/11/01)
Those that seek power are not worthy of that power.—Plato
Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress and touches even the ermine of the bench. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty.— National platform of the Populist Party, 1892
Too Old to Work--Too Young to Die!—Walter Reuther devised slogan in the UAW fight for pension plans
There's a direct relationship between the ballot box and the bread box, and what the union fights for and wins at the bargaining table can be taken away in the legislative halls.—Walter Reuther
I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.—Pete Seeger, folksinger, songwriter, activist, pacifist, and humanist
I'm gonna invoke the First Amendment, the right of freedom of association...We're all Americans. We can associate with whoever we want to, and it doesn't matter who we associate with.—Pete Seeger, folksinger, songwriter, activist, pacifist, and humanist to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, August 1955
I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it. But if by some freak of history communism had caught up with this country, I would have been one of the first people thrown in jail.—Pete Seeger, folksinger, songwriter, activist, pacifist, and humanist (1995)
I have been to the darkest corners of government, and what they fear is light.—Edward Snowden, American whistleblower and patriot
We should measure the success of our economy by the breadth of our Middle Class and the scope of opportunity offered to the poorest child to climb into that Middle Class.—John Sweeney
It doesn't matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside—the outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, working people will not support them.—AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, May 20, 2011
For too long, we've been left after Election Day holding a canceled check, waving it about--"Remember us? Remember Us? Remember us?"--asking someone to pay a little attention to us. Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a snootful of that shit!--AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, June 7, 2011
One who recognizes all persons as members of their own body is a sound person to guard them.—Lao Tzu (attributed)
The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of a few, and to render the masses poor and dependent.— Daniel Webster
The Constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.—Wendell Lewis Willkie
I don't mind being called a lefty. We're being centered to death.—William ("Wimpy") Winpisinger, International Association of Machinists president
He wants someone to get to the bottom of it so they won't get to the top.—Roy Zimmerman, political satirist and singer, on theGovernor Chris Christie "Bridgegate" scandal in New Jersey
Libertarians are two-year-olds with guns.—Roy Zimmerman, political satirist and singer, on Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his militia buddies claiming to want freedom when what they really want is to use land they don't own without having to pay to use it.
Those that seek power are not worthy of that power.—Plato
Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress and touches even the ermine of the bench. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty.— National platform of the Populist Party, 1892
Too Old to Work--Too Young to Die!—Walter Reuther devised slogan in the UAW fight for pension plans
There's a direct relationship between the ballot box and the bread box, and what the union fights for and wins at the bargaining table can be taken away in the legislative halls.—Walter Reuther
I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.—Pete Seeger, folksinger, songwriter, activist, pacifist, and humanist
I'm gonna invoke the First Amendment, the right of freedom of association...We're all Americans. We can associate with whoever we want to, and it doesn't matter who we associate with.—Pete Seeger, folksinger, songwriter, activist, pacifist, and humanist to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, August 1955
I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it. But if by some freak of history communism had caught up with this country, I would have been one of the first people thrown in jail.—Pete Seeger, folksinger, songwriter, activist, pacifist, and humanist (1995)
I have been to the darkest corners of government, and what they fear is light.—Edward Snowden, American whistleblower and patriot
We should measure the success of our economy by the breadth of our Middle Class and the scope of opportunity offered to the poorest child to climb into that Middle Class.—John Sweeney
It doesn't matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside—the outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, working people will not support them.—AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, May 20, 2011
For too long, we've been left after Election Day holding a canceled check, waving it about--"Remember us? Remember Us? Remember us?"--asking someone to pay a little attention to us. Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a snootful of that shit!--AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, June 7, 2011
One who recognizes all persons as members of their own body is a sound person to guard them.—Lao Tzu (attributed)
The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of a few, and to render the masses poor and dependent.— Daniel Webster
The Constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.—Wendell Lewis Willkie
I don't mind being called a lefty. We're being centered to death.—William ("Wimpy") Winpisinger, International Association of Machinists president
He wants someone to get to the bottom of it so they won't get to the top.—Roy Zimmerman, political satirist and singer, on theGovernor Chris Christie "Bridgegate" scandal in New Jersey
Libertarians are two-year-olds with guns.—Roy Zimmerman, political satirist and singer, on Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his militia buddies claiming to want freedom when what they really want is to use land they don't own without having to pay to use it.