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It is a privilege to serve people, a privilege that must be earned, and once earned, there is an obligation to do something good with it.

Barbara Jordan

Today, I am an inquisitor. I shall not sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.
BARBARA JORDAN

Constitution Democracy Today
A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation.
BARBARA JORDAN

Future Government Shaping Willing
There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.
BARBARA JORDAN

Law Order People
“We, the people.” It is a very elegant beginning. But when that document was completed on the 17th of September in 1787, I was not included in that “We, the people.”
BARBARA JORDAN

Documents People September
We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.
BARBARA JORDAN

Acceptance Inspirational People
What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government ought to do nothing. Strike a balance.
BARBARA JORDAN

Balance Government Ideas
I never wanted to be run of the mill.
BARBARA JORDAN

Mills Running Wanted
We must have an economy that does not force the migrant worker’s child to miss school in order to earn…just so the family can eat. That is the moral bankruptcy that trickle-down economics is all about.
BARBARA JORDAN

Children Order School
Justice of right is always to take precedence over might.
BARBARA JORDAN

Justice Peace Ubuntu
We cannot improve on the system of government handed down to us by the founders of the Republic. There is no way to improve upon that. But what we can do is to find new ways to implement that system and realize our destiny.
BARBARA JORDAN

Destiny Government Republic
The earth is bread we take and eat.
BARBARA JORDAN

Bread Earth Eat Take
Life is too large to hang out a sign: ‘For Men Only.
BARBARA JORDAN

Hanging Life Men Out
The imperative is to define what is right and do it.
BARBARA JORDAN

Character Inspirational
Let’s all understand that these guiding principles cannot be discarded for short-term political gains. They represent what this country is all about. They are indigenous to the American idea. And these are principles which are not negotiable.
BARBARA JORDAN

Country Guiding Principles Ideas
Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community. It’s tough, difficult, not easy. But a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we share a common destiny.
BARBARA JORDAN

America Community Destiny
I have faith in young people because I know the strongest emotions which prevail are those of love and caring and belief and tolerance.
BARBARA JORDAN

Caring People Teaching
We want to be in control of our lives. Whether we are jungle fighters, craftsmen, company men, gamesmen, we want to be in control. And when the government erodes that control, we are not comfortable.
BARBARA JORDAN

Erode Men Want
[It is] one of the most complex and emotional issues of out time.
BARBARA JORDAN

Emotional Immigration Issues
If you had to work in the environment of Washington, D.C., as I do, and watch those men who are so imprisoned and so confined by their eighteenth-century thought patterns, you would know that if anybody is going to be liberated, it’s men who must be liberated in this country.
BARBARA JORDAN

Country Men Work
I live a day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning, I say: ‘What is my exciting thing for today?’ Then, I do the day. Don’t ask me about tomorrow.
BARBARA JORDAN

Life Morning Motivational
I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, and that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit.
BARBARA JORDAN

Feelings Texas Want
We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief that the gap between the promise and reality of America can one day be finally closed. We believe that.
BARBARA JORDAN

Believe Positive Reality
A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.
BARBARA JORDAN

Common Responsibility Share
Our concept of governing is derived from our view of people. It is a concept deeply rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience, of all of us.
BARBARA JORDAN

Belief People View
If youre going to play the game properly, youd better know every rule.
BARBARA JORDAN

Games Play Political
We are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds.
BARBARA JORDAN

Backgrounds Made Party
The Supreme Court has always been the last bastion of the protection of our freedoms.
BARBARA JORDAN

Court Lasts Protection

It is a privilege to serve people, a privilege that must be earned, and once earned, there is an obligation to do something good with it.

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It is a privilege to serve people, a privilege that must be earned, and once earned, there is an obligation to do something good with it.

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