Sheldon Whitehouse Quotes

Men and women have served and died to protect American democracy, but their sacrifice will be for naught if that democracy dies from the poison the Supreme Court has injected into our political organs.

Our tribunals — unlike those in the United States — have been traditionally subordinated to political power. Mexico has a history of corrupt elections where the will of the people has been subverted by the wealthy and powerful.

I find the Democratic party overall, on a macro level, to be institutionally corrupt.

Money greases the wheel of American democracy and corrupts it all.

Fundamental problem in American democracy is that we are allowing congressmen and senators to be bought and sold like sneakers.

It's this mingling of the economic and political elite which is really destroying our democracy.

Money's dominance over politics isn't merely one problem of many our country faces. It is the problem! It is a growing crisis that prevents us from tackling anything else.

The fossil fuel industry maintains a science denial operation and a political influence operation designed to do just that. What's good for their business is more important to them than what's good for America.

The power the fossil fuel industry exerts over Congress is polluting American democracy, the propaganda it emits through its front groups is polluting our public discourse, and, of course, its carbon emissions are polluting our atmosphere and oceans - it's a triple whammy and a disgrace.

For me, it all comes down to one issue: if we can get money out of political systems, the whole world will change.

The biggest issue that we have to contend with is campaign finance reform.

The corruption that hides in plain sight is the real threat to our democracy.

Show me a supposedly 'unfixable' problem in Washington, and I'll show you the political corruption standing in the way.

Millions upon millions of secret spending by the fossil fuel industry that was unleashed by the disastrous 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision - this money not only fuels the campaigns of many candidates; it also represents a threat to those who don't toe the polluter line on climate change.

When a political advocacy network hires a former CIA analyst and starts tailing save-our-parks activists, you know there's something terribly dangerous happening to our democracy.

Political corruption is eating our democracy out from the inside. Most Americans know that. But democratic and economic health can't be easily disentangled.

Everybody that's trying to get anything progressive done in this country knows that the biggest barrier is getting money out of politics.

Trump is an anathema to America's democracy and values.

Billionaires and corporations buy and sell politicians, while citizens struggle to exercise their right to vote or hold their elected representatives to account.

Once I got into politics, I saw the real fight, where big money controls everything, and where politicians care more about campaign contributions than the people they're supposed to represent.

Let's face it, politics in this country is coin-operated. Does that really equate to a real democracy? It's very difficult to say.

I'm seeing too much power being concentrated in the executive branch, and so our system of government is really in jeopardy, and more importantly, the overwhelming issue that we've had for a long time is money in politics. I see that problem getting worse.

Deception can cost billions. Think Enron, Madoff, the mortgage crisis. Or in the case of double agents and traitors, like Robert Hanssen or Aldrich Ames, lies can betray our country. They can compromise our security. They can undermine democracy. They can cause the deaths of those that defend us.

With every new class of representatives that comes to Congress, there is a greater recognition of the perils of private financing of campaigns. I believe that by pulling back the curtain on the daily pressures faced by members of Congress, we can show the public how critical this reform is to the salvation of our democracy.

Mrs. Clinton is the embodiment of a corrupt establishment owned by special interests, having personally enriched herself by giving closed-door speeches to Wall Street firms and the big banks.