One of the true progressive leaders of he Democratic party was Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone. He had a unique ability to connect with voters by bringing a humane, aspirational message to his politics. The following are a few Wellstone quotes you can use as a comparison measure to the candidates vying for your vote this election season. The issue is not whether a particular candidate mimics Wellstone’s words and sentiments, but do they embody a genuine progressive message of humane and inclusive, positive vision and values. — Mark L. Taylor
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“This is no time for timidity.”
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“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.”
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“In the last analysis, 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.”
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“Above and beyond the question of how to grow the economy there is a legitimate concern about how to grow the quality of our lives.”
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“The idea of democracy has been stripped of it moral imperatives and come to denote hollowness and hypocrisy.”
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“People have to hear words that not only sound right but feel right. I think it’s in part the economic message, but it’s also in part a message about community, about who we are as a nation, about how to live a life in which you don’t have to separate the life you live from the words you speak, be that in your relationship with your family, your community, your country or your world. I don’t want to give an inch on a ‘family values’ agenda…”
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“I think we ought to remember what Emerson wrote – The true test of civilization is not the census or the size of the city or the crops, but the kind of man (and I’d add women) the country turns out. The kind of national goal we ought to be thinking about is way beyond national product – it is how do we as a nation help our children be the best kinds of people they could possibly be?”
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“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.”
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“I don’t think politics has anything to do with left, right, or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people.”
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“Politics is not just about power and money games, politics can be about the improvement of people’s lives, about lessening human suffering in our world and bringing about more peace and more justice.”
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“There is an elementary aspiration which undergirds the humane impulse in our history and our culture and binds us together as political activists. This is a simple, irreducible, indisputable aspiration. It is the ‘dream of justice’ for a beloved community, in which the level of terror in people’s lives is sharply reduced or maybe eliminated. 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.”
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“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.”
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Check out more Paul Wellstone wisdom at ‘Wellstone Quotes’
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If You Have Thought Of Running For Office Check Out ‘Wellstone Action’ For Trainings
We believe that politics shouldn’t be about money and power games – it should be about the improvement of people’s lives. That’s the kind of politics Paul Wellstone embodied: one where we all do better when we all do better. And with a radical, resurgent conservative movement on the rise, it’s the kind of politics we need now more than ever.
We believe that electoral politics, public policy, and grassroots organizing can be woven together to create progressive change. We call it the Wellstone Triangle, and it anchors everything we do.
We believe that to set this triangle in motion, and sustain change over the long haul, we need to develop a critical mass of diverse leaders with the motivation and expertise to win back our values. So that’s what we do.
We’ve been at it for over 14 years now, and, more than ever, we believe in winning. We believe in Wellstone. And we invite you to join us.