Our aims in political activism are not, and should not be, to create a perfect utopia.
Politics is about the improvement of people's lives. It's about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and the world. Politics is about doing well for the people.
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.
The people of this country, not special interest big money, should be the source of all political power.
Politics isn't about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives.
Education and democracy have the same goal: the fullest possible development of human capabilities.
If a teacher does not involve himself, his values, his commitments, in the course of discussion, why should the students?
Sometimes, the only realists are the dreamers.
There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics.
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.
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.
It is the belief that extremes and excesses of inequality must be reduced so that each person is free to fully develop his or her full potential. This is why we take precious time out of our lives and give it to politics.
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 idea of democracy has been stripped of it moral imperatives and come to denote hollowness and hypocrisy.
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.
There is a major ingredient missing from our perception of how changes are brought about; that ingredient is power.
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.
Why don't we call on the credit card companies to be accountable? They need to be held accountable for their predatory lending practices.
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.
Successful organizing is based on the recognition that people get organized because they, too, have a vision.
