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.
Paul WellstoneRead
The problem with party politics is that people get involved every two or four years and that is it. In the meantime, the legislature and Minnesota politics are on a separate track.
Interpretation
Political engagement should happen continuously, not just during election cycles.
This quote by Paul Wellstone highlights the issue of limited political engagement among the populace, emphasizing that citizens should be active participants in politics beyond just the moments leading up to elections. He suggests that true democracy requires constant involvement in governance to ensure that legislators remain connected to the needs and concerns of their constituents.
In practice
In a speech about civic responsibility, emphasizing the need for year-round political involvement.
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.
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.
The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines
Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's lives.
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.
If we live in a perpetual state of outrage, Trump wins. Because when we become depleted and exhausted and sapped of our energy, we're not as resourceful, creative, or effective.
President Bush has asserted the right to wiretap and eavesdrop on any American without a warrant in the name of fighting terrorism. He has asserted presidential power beyond stated constitutional rights, and there is no Republican gutsy enough to call his hand.
Big corporations have money and power to make sure every rule breaks their way; people have voices and votes to push back.
The politicians always told us that the Cold War stand-off could only change by way of nuclear war. None of them believed that such systemic change was possible.
Collective European Union action could mean no hiding places for evaders, no safe haven for tax avoiders, and no treasure islands for money launderers.
I think that America's recovery of a global strategic view is an absolutely essential element of our foreign policy.
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