"Im giving it some thought for the very reason that Olympia quit. Its just not working down there and maybe we need to try something different. … We have serious problems in this country but we cant begin to solve them until we solve this shrill deadlock."
Angus Stanley King Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who has served since 2013 as the junior United States senator from Maine. A political independent who caucuses with the Democratic Party, he served from 1995 to 2003 as the 72nd governor of Maine.
"I dont have any illusions that Im naively going to go down and Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are going to say, "Angus, tell us how to do this." I mean, I know thats not going to work. But I think, No. 1, my election would send a significant message and, No. 2, it might provoke similar movements in other states. If there were four or five people like me, that would change the whole dynamic."
"Jefferson said the states are the laboratories of democracy. But the problem is, nobody reads the lab reports. Weve got every state trying to reinvent everything. I was struck even more so after this trip how little exchange there is among states that are coping with exactly the same issues."
"You have to take advantage of the opportunities that life gives you, particularly the moments in time when you have time, when youre between jobs or you retire. Get out and go. I think most of us are way too intense. We need to take a deep breath and do things that maybe dont fit the normal picture of what were supposed to do at that stage of life. In some ways, this book is one big argument for just plain loosening up."
"Theres a paradox at the heart of the creation of any government, whether its here or anywhere else on Earth, and anywhere else in history. Theres a paradox built in, because the essence of creating government is to give it power, give it our power, in order to look after us, in order to provide for the common defense, to ensure domestic tranquility, to provide justice to our people. In other words, were giving our power to this separate entity. But we have to do so with the realization that the power thats being given has the potential to be abused. In other words, how do we give power to this entity, this government, and ensure that the government itself doesnt use that power to abuse us as citizens? This is a question at the heart of all political discussion throughout history. The Romans even had a question that captured it. The question was, "quis custodiet, ipsos custodes?" It means who will guard the guardians? Who will guard those who we have given power to guard us? Its a fundamental question thats confronted every society and every government throughout history."
"This small group, and we dont know who they are, but this small group apparently its reported in their 20s have no experience with government, no experience with foreign aid, no experience with the operation of the United States government, but theyre making basically policy decisions and constitutional decisions. The Constitution does not give to the President or his designee the power to extinguish a statutorily established agency. I can think of no greater violation of the strictures of the Constitution or usurpation of the power of this body. None."
"Michael Jordan did not get good at basketball by practicing 42 minutes a week, which is what most kids have in the computer lab. … Whether its a scalpel, baseball bat or a computer, the skill in the use of a tool rests upon practice and familiarity, and thats what these kids are going to have to an unprecedented extent."