Quotes About Reform

I thought I was leaving elected office and politics in order to focus on schooling, but as you know, schooling turns out to be frankly even more political than politics.

Here's my thinking: Since tax reform only occurs once a generation, let's not tweak what we have and call it a day.

Trying to explain the First Step Act in prison reform in a tweet or Facebook post is not easy.

A tweet is fast. But everything about policy change is very slow. And a lot of us are impatient.

It is right and natural that generous minds while in the twenties should think the books which try to reform the world's wrong the greatest of all.

At twenty a man is full of fight and hope. He wants to reform the world. When he is seventy he still wants to reform the world, but he knows he can't.

The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.

Anyone who knows gangs knows that lawmakers cannot conceive of a law that would lead a hard-core gang member to 'think twice.'

I been in jail twice. The first time was reform school: they got me for carrying burglar's tools, something like that. The morals charge was a frame-up.

You know what an effective deterrent to crime is? Jail! And do you know what kind of criminal penalty actually makes people think twice about committing crimes the next time? The kind that actually comes out of some individual's pocket, not fines that come out of the corporate kitty.

Immigration reform almost happened under President George W. Bush. Twice. And it was comprehensive.

The way health care is funded in the U.S. is not sustainable. People are being kept alive who are probably better off dead. The cost of health care is too high, and you don't get much for it - it's twice as high in the U.S. as elsewhere, and it's because of the middlemen.

We will have a more just society as soon as we want one.

A nation will rise no higher than the strength of its homes. If you want to reform a nation you begin with families.

If people really want to clean the sport of cycling up, all you have to do is put your money where your mouth is.

People want change. How is Barack going to do it? I think McCain can bring change.

The people of Britain want a Home Secretary who will give them back their streets. They want a Home Secretary who will speak up for the victim, not the criminal.

We need to have more second chance programs. I'm glad that we're ending private prisons in the federal system; I want to see them ended in the state system.

We also have to recognize, in addition to the challenges that we face with policing, there are so many good, brave police officers who equally want reform.

The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.

I agree with people who say we want more income equality; we want more consumer protection; and we want sounder banks. I agree with all that.

I think I can fix the problems in Washington that people desperately want to see fixed.

The Commission on Presidential Debates must be replaced if we want to have a democracy in this country.

Spending time in jail really helped me stay away from what my brother did because I got a taste of jail time. I realized this isn't the life I want to live being locked up 24 hours a day.