1104 – “Balancing the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the children, and the poor is not only immoral, it is bad economic policy. It is something that must be vigorously opposed.”

-Bernie Sanders

907 – “Consumerism has accustomed us to waste. But Throwing food away is like stealing it from the poor and hungry. | With the ‘Culture of Waste,’ human life is no longer considered the primary value to be respected and protected.”

-Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome

602 – John McCain on the State of the World

“The times we live in are alternately derided for their failings and romanticized for their emerging opportunities. It sometimes seems that we now live amid greater violence, greater uncertainty; that the world suffers more conflicts and tragedies; that the poor are poorer and greater in number; that race, ethnicity and nationalism divide us more intractably than ever before.
But that is not so. Human beings are still capable of violence and cruelty. We all succumb to sin. But look back at any preceding century or even just a few decades, and you will see cruelty, violence and misery on a scale that is, with few exceptions, unknown today.”

–John McCain, United States Senator from Arizonia

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468 – “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”

–Nelson Mandela

433 – “History will judge societies and governments — and their institutions — not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless.”

–César Chávez

335 – “Quando dou comida aos pobres chamam-me de santo. Quando pergunto por que eles são pobres chamam-me de comunista.”

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

–Dom Hélder Câmara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife

302 – “It’s important to understand CEOs are not job creators. Nor are the rich. Nor are corporations. The job creators are the Middle Class and the Poor, whose purchases create jobs. If the Middle Class and Poor aren’t paid enough, job creation slows. Which is why a higher minimum wage creates jobs.”

–Robert Reich, 22nd United States Secretary of Labor

197 – “Let us be clear about our choice. When we raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, no one dies. When we cut Social Security and Medicare, people die.”

–Annabel Park

191 – “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”

–Edward Abbey

179 – “Being born elite in the US gives you a constellation of privileges that very few people in the world have ever experienced. Being born poor in the US gives you disadvantages unlike anything in Western Europe and Japan and Canada.”

–David Levine

See Source Notes for further reading on this subject if you are interested.