Top 100 Quotes About Constituents
#1. I think we should all be accountable to our parties, but I also think that accountability should be a process of engagement: that MPs do engage with their constituency parties, do engage with their constituents, and MPs do change their minds on things because of local opinion.
Jeremy Corbyn
#2. We want to believe. Young students try to believe in older authors, constituents try to believe in their Congressmen, countries try to believe in their statesmen, but they can't. Too many voices, too much scattered, illogical ill-considered criticism.
F Scott Fitzgerald
#3. If we can't have the courage to tell our constituents, hey, we've got to cut back, then if we can point to something and say, I would like to vote for more benefits for you, but this balanced budget amendment or statutory spending cap or whatever the device is, is preventing me from doing it.
Jeff Flake
#4. Our challenge, our opportunity is to pass common-sense solutions ... that repeal ObamaCare and replace it with patient-centered reforms that will help our constituents have better access to high-quality health care in America.
John Boehner
#5. In every election homophobia has been part of the landscape and in every campaign I've been able to become connected enough to my constituents that they know who I am and that I can be elected on my merits.
Kathleen Wynne
#6. Our profile was pretty low, deliberately so. Our constituents were a relatively small audience.
Hilary Rosen
#7. The laws that we adopt embody the values and mores of our constituents.
Joe Moore
#8. I think a lot of people feel that they are just not listened to, and that the politicians in Washington are just playing games with each other and forgetting about their constituents.
Joe Lieberman
#10. For my constituents, owning a home is the culmination of many years of hard work and the realization of the American Dream. At no time should a local entity take those years of hard work solely to increase their tax revenue.
Solomon Ortiz
#11. Neither these statesmen nor their constituents sought in any way to use the Government for the interest of themselves or their section, or for the injury of a single member of the Confederacy.
Robert Toombs
#12. I don't have any rift with President Obama at all. I think that he is operating in an entirely different arena than I'm dealing in. I represent my constituents in the Fourth Congressional District. I'm looking out admittedly for much more narrow interests. I represent the fourth-poorest district.
Gwen Moore
#13. We all know that, unfortunately, the media does not always portray the good things that are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this will be a great opportunity for us to glean some information from the Iraqi women who are here for us to also take back to our constituents.
Ginny Brown-Waite
#14. When we embraced social media, we took more control of the Newark narrative. We increased responsiveness toward residents. We drew more of our constituents in to participate in government and improve our cities.
Cory Booker
#15. I am here today to again apologize for the personal mistakes I have made and the embarrassment I have caused. I make this apology to my neighbors and my constituents, but I make it particularly to my wife, Huma.
Anthony Weiner
#16. I understand Twitter has become popular among politicians. This technology allows them to stay in perpetual contact with their constituents. The electorate now has instant information about what politicians have been up to.
P. J. O'Rourke
#17. I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
James Madison
#18. I went to Ferguson and walked with the demonstrators and saw this heavily armed police force, tactical units pointing sniper rifles at my constituents who were there exercising their constitutional rights.
William Lacy Clay Jr.
#19. Alexander Hamilton, of New York, a signer of the Constitution, was a member of the ratifying convention in his state and did more than any other member to wring the approval of the new instrument from delegates practically instructed by their constituents to vote against it.
Charles A. Beard
#20. A former congressman on his sexting habit: I have made terrible mistakes. I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends and supporters and the media.
Anthony Weiner
#21. Of course things get stagnant; people get too used to their environment, but that's why I'm in my district every week, at meetings with my constituents.
Charles B. Rangel
#22. No issue is more important to this Congress than securing our borders and protecting our homeland, and I guarantee it is very important to our constituents.
Ginny Brown-Waite
#23. Our constituents paid into Social Security, and they want it paid back to them when they retire. Cutting Social Security benefits that Americans have earned should always be a last resort.
Dennis Cardoza
#24. The lesson from Hurricane Katrina was communication, communication, communication, .. Public safety has to be a priority. Then we can go to constituents and start talking about investments that have to be made in upgrading the networks.
Mufi Hannemann
#25. There are some politicians who promise something for everyone. If their constituents were cannibals, would promise them missionaries for dinner, fattened at public expense.
H.L. Mencken
#26. I don't know what's going to happen specifically on votes on Obamacare. I suspect we'll vote to repeal early to put on record the fact that we Republicans think it's a bad policy, and we think it's hurting our constituents, and we think health care cost should be going down, not up.
Rob Portman
#27. Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.
Thomas Jefferson
#28. I need to maintain a home in Derbyshire and in London to be able both to represent my constituents and to fulfil my responsibilities as an MP and as a minister.
Geoff Hoon
#29. The Catholic Church is a weird church. Much mysticism is sown broadspread from its ritual mysteries till it extends into the very lives of its constituents and parishoners.
Jack Kerouac
#30. This attempt to isolate cell constituents might have been a failure if they had been destroyed by the relative brutality of the technique employed. But this did not happen.
Albert Claude
#31. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents.
Thomas Jefferson
#32. It ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention.
Edmund Burke
#33. Part of the problem you have is that you don't have a dialogue between elected officials and their constituents. They've built these barricades, these barriers around themselves and tried to avoid interaction with their constituents.
Elizabeth Emken
#34. My position is to listen to my constituents, learn from the best information available and ultimately make sound, rational decisions that are going to be beneficial to the people of the 8th Congressional District.
Gabrielle Giffords
#35. Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.
George Mason
#36. Many of our constituents have one option for cable TV and one price. Our constituents desire choice.
Melissa Bean
#37. My only loyalty is to what's best for business, not to any set of constituents.
Ram Shriram
#38. If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.
Alexander Hamilton
#39. China's Premier Zhao Ziyang, for all of his billion constituents, seemed in the evening's lovely flow like a favorite uncle, smiling a little too much, wanting to be a bit American, talking about peace and pork chops.
Hugh Sidey
#40. All that we know about the interaction between leaders and constituents or followers tells us that communication and influence flow in both directions; and in that two-way communication, nonrational, nonverbal, and unconscious elements play their part.
John W. Gardner
#41. He felt a giant among pygmies, a pike among crappies, as he stood there among the legislators, most of whom owed him for flavors - special bills passed for their law clients, state jobs for constituents, " contributions" for their personal campaign funds, and so on.
A.J. Liebling
#42. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been one of my good friends in the House of Representatives. When she was brutally shot, Gabby was out doing what she loved to do - meeting with her constituents in a local setting, allowing people to speak to her directly about the issues that concerned them.
Chellie Pingree
#43. Being an MP is not a desperately hard life, like going down the pit or working in the steelworks - with which I am all too familiar, having been brought up in the city of Sheffield; and it certainly isn't badly paid compared with any of my constituents.
David Blunkett
#44. I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that.
Hillary Clinton
#45. I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures.
Boss Tweed
#47. The one endorsement that makes the most difference is from the constituents in the district.
Sandy Adams
#48. American politicians are responsive almost solely to the interests and desires of their rich constituents and interest groups that primarily represent big business.
Alex Pareene
#49. I know that Bush, for political reasons, is going to nominate a minority, a Hispanic man or someone where it will be harder for people on the progressive side to oppose and split some of the traditionally progressive or democratic constituents.
Patricia Ireland
#50. The pool of illegal immigrants is like a qualified bunch of people. You don't have to do surveys. You don't have to interview them. You know they are ready-made Democrat voters. Not only that, they are readymade Democrat constituents.
Rush Limbaugh
#51. When completed, the budget must provide the services we have promised to our constituents.
Jane D. Hull
#52. I always try to keep my constituents as up-to-date as possible with what's going on here in Washington.
Steve Israel
#53. We were also able to do a great deal of work to improve highways, airports and airways, waterways, and railways, all of which are important and have provided a better quality of life and economic development opportunities for my constituents.
Nick Lampson
#54. I have seen the times when the grassroots has moved the Congress. We listen way more often to our constituents than the lobbyists. And the grassroots are going to have to do it.
John Linder
#55. Mr. Speaker, the Delaware River deepening project is important for my constituents, for our region and for the entire nation. I trust that, when they examine the facts about it, every one of my colleagues will join me in supporting it.
Robert Brady
#56. We represent our constituents. And so they don't get to dictate policy.
Jeff Sessions
#57. If we want to truly regain the public's trust, we can provide greater accountability and transparency with a simple step. Let's start by communicating to our constituents about the votes we take.
Melissa Bean
#58. All of us in the Senate live in an iron lung-the iron lung of politics, and it is no easy task to emerge from that rarified atmosphere in order to breathe the same fresh air our constituents breathe.
John F. Kennedy
#59. As Members of Congress we can now engage with our constituents via online innovations like the Huffington Post, while a small business in rural Oregon can use the Internet to find customers around the world.
Ron Wyden
#60. It is a happy coincidence between what my constituents believe and my interests.
Jay Inslee
#61. A politician would do well to remember that he has to live with his conscience longer than he does with his constituents.
Melvin Laird
#62. What I was doing was servicing the needs of my constituents and I was not allowed to do that because I did not toe the line on U.S. policy for Israel.
Cynthia McKinney
#63. Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
[Preface to Brissot's Address to His Constituents (1794)]
Edmund Burke
#64. The blood corpuscles take up the atmospheric oxygen in the lungs, and the vital chemical process accordingly depends essentially on the combination of oxygen absorbed by blood corpuscles with the combustible constituents of the blood to form carbonic acid and water.
Robert Mayer
#65. If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
H.L. Mencken
#66. For years, members of Congress have heard from constituents who want them to protect the nation from crime, terrorism and intellectual property violation. They have not faced equally robust demands that online rights and freedoms be preserved.
Rebecca MacKinnon
#67. Every member of Congress is sent to Washington to represent all of their constituents, regardless of their age, race, social standing, or sexual orientation, and I believe that America should be a place where everybody can dream, and nobody is left out.
Mark Takano
#68. Every proposition which we can understand must be composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted.
Bertrand Russell
#69. We see constituents who are manifestly incapable of undertaking any normal work ... Those whose applications for benefits are subsequently rejected go through a period of incredible stress, and some, sadly, take their lives during that time. Applicants who appeal usually win.
Jeremy Corbyn
#70. I will support my party when they are right on an issue, but am not afraid to stand up to party bosses who are not looking out for the best interests of my constituents and our country.
Darlene Senger
#71. When tadpole tails shrink in size,
their constituents are being broken down by lysosomes, and these organic molecules are then reabsorbed to fuel the growth of new structures such as the frog's budding arms and legs.
Steven Daniel Garber
#72. One of my goals here in Congress, being the youngest member of the California delegation, is to really try and get the institution to upgrade the way it communicates with its constituents.
Eric Swalwell
#73. The member of Congress who forgets his constituents' needs usually serves only one term.
Edward Brooke
#74. It is a misfortune incident to republican government, though in a less degree than to other governments, that those who administer it, may forget their obligations to their constituents, and prove unfaithful to their important trust.
James Madison
#75. Between floor votes, hearings and meetings, a typical week in Washington is about 70 hours. And back in the district, it's about 60 hours, a lot of which is spent with constituents.
Suzanne Bonamici
#76. To succeed in big-city politics requires a powerful, motivating vision of a better world, a plan to get there, a willingness to meet constituents on their terms, and a tough political skin.
Michael Nutter
#77. The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act expires at the end of this year. Thus, we must act quickly to ensure our constituents continue to receive the services they enjoy.
Eliot Engel
#78. Surely there are common-sense reforms that we should, and must, take in order to keep our children and our communities safe. I take these recommendations very seriously, and will listen to the voices of my constituents to ensure I do everything I can to help prevent gun violence.
Paul Tonko
#79. Like the vast majority of my constituents, I continue to be concerned about record profits reported by petroleum companies at a time when consumers are paying record high prices for gasoline.
Mike Rogers
#80. As a policy maker, I have to stand up for the rights of all my constituents, regardless of their faith.
Mike Quigley
#81. The EPA, the Gestapo of government, pure and simply has been one of the major claw-hooks that the government maintains on the backs of our constituents.
Tom DeLay
#82. The secular world often finds its constituents disenfranchised and solitary as it has spent a great deal of time debating the religious community while failing to build a true community of its own.
Chris Matakas
#83. Well, my constituents are happy that the Republican Party has finally gotten off its duff, seeing that we do control the House and the Senate and the presidency, and taken up the issue of illegal immigration.
Dana Rohrabacher
#84. No decision in the world outlives the time, place, and person's constituents on the basis of which it was made.
Pearl Zhu
#85. Every man must form himself as a particular being, seeking, however, to attain that general idea of which all mankind are constituents.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
#86. Speak seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents, and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of the subject.
George Washington
#87. Believe he should have to actually "work" like the rest of us and he thinks the constituents
Greg Gutfeld
#88. There are some politicians who, if their constituents were cannibals, would promise them missionaries in every pot.
H.L. Mencken
#89. Actually we're not hearing a lot about gas prices right now from constituents. And I think that reflects a growing understanding on the part of the public, that there really is very little that the government and politicians can do.
John Yarmuth
#90. If, during the Second World War, the United States had retooled its factories for manufacturing bicycles instead of munitions, we'd be one of the healthiest, least oil-dependent, and most environmentally-sound constituents in the Nazi empire today.
Ralph Nader
#91. It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.
Caroline Kennedy
#92. God forbid that the day should ever come when to be true to my constituents is to be hostile to the Union.
Jefferson Davis
#93. To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.
Kathleen Parker
#94. Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.
Alan Siegel
#95. I am persuaded that in the case of elected officials, the overwhelming temptation is to conclude that it is more important for your constituents that you be reelected than that you deal honestly with them.
James L. Buckley
#96. By overhauling current rules and speeding the entry of competitors in the market, we encourage competition and provide our constituents with new choices and cheaper bills.
Melissa Bean
#97. In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.
Walter Lippmann
#98. There is hardly a congressman prepared to go home until he has at least one speech printed and sent to his constituents, and he won't let anybody interrupt his harangue until he has made all his useful suggestions about the 24 states of the Union, and especially the district he represents.
Alexis De Tocqueville
#99. Like most of my colleagues, I promise my constituents a lot of stuff I can never deliver. But what the hell? If it makes them happy hearing it, and they're stupid enough to believe it, shame on them.
Congressman X
#100. The ultimate evil is the weakness, cowardice, that is one of the constituents of so much human nature. When, rarely, unalloyed nobility does occur, its chances of prevailing are slim. Yet it exists, and its mere existence is reason enough for not wiping the name of mankind off the slate.
John Simon
