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[It is] one of the most complex and emotional issues of out time.

Barbara Jordan

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
It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.
BARBARA JORDAN

Decision Emotional Passion
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 think it no accident that most of those emigrating to America in the 19th century identified with the Democratic Party. We are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds.
BARBARA JORDAN

Country Democratic Party Thinking
I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
BARBARA JORDAN

Community Form Kind
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
We call ourselves public servants but I’ll tell you this: we as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good.
BARBARA JORDAN

Example People Sea
I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’
BARBARA JORDAN

Mistake People Years
The citizens of America expect more. They deserve and they want more than a recital of problems.
BARBARA JORDAN

America Citizens Want
Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.
BARBARA JORDAN

Anger Food Thinking
Fairness is an across-the-board requirement for all our interactions with each other …Fairness treats everbody the same.
BARBARA JORDAN

Boards Fairness Requirements
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
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

People Philanthropy Privilege
Things which matter cost money, and we’ve got to spend the money if we do not want to have generations of parasites rather than generations of productive citizens.
BARBARA JORDAN

Citizens Cost Generations
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
When do any of us ever do enough?
BARBARA JORDAN

Any Effort Enough Hard Work
Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.
BARBARA JORDAN

Citizens Ideas Suffering
[It is] one of the most complex and emotional issues of out time.
BARBARA JORDAN

Emotional Immigration Issues
It is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest.
BARBARA JORDAN

Democratic Immigration Responsibility
The stakes … are too high for government to be a spectator sport.
BARBARA JORDAN

Government Sports Stakes
What the people want is very simple – they want an America as good as its promise.
BARBARA JORDAN

Integrity Peace War
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
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
Throughout out history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their problems, and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties. They have often turned to the Democratic Party.
BARBARA JORDAN

Party People Political
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
We are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds.
BARBARA JORDAN

Backgrounds Made Party
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

[It is] one of the most complex and emotional issues of out time.

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[It is] one of the most complex and emotional issues of out time.

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