I have this fear that one day there's going to be a fire in the Senate and there are only going to be 57 senators there and they’ll all die because they won't have 60 votes to allow themselves to leave the building. Barney Frank More Quotes by Barney Frank More Quotes From Barney Frank I had always been interested in politics. I had assumed - for two reasons, being Jewish and being gay back in the late '50s, early '60s - that I would never be elected or anything, but I would participate as an activist. Barney Frank gay reason two People are entitled to the presumption of innocence. Barney Frank presumption-of-innocence entitled people Donald Trump has done more for getting people to understand the importance of public policy that respond to public needs in an affirmative way than anything we could have done on our own. Barney Frank importance done people But on those occasions when I do strongly disagree with the Democrats and I don't say anything, I think I forfeit my right to have people pay attention to me when I say the things that I don't like about what Republicans are saying. Barney Frank say-anything people thinking But when others suggested that the poor should not simply be the objects of these programs but also the subjects - that they should be actively involved in shaping the programs, making decisions about how to spend the money etc. - some of the previous supporters reconsidered. Barney Frank etc poor decision I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decided that I would, of course, still be closeted but that I would work very hard for gay rights. It would be totally dishonorable, being gay, not to do that. So I had that as kind of a secondary agenda. Barney Frank gay rights running I should have voted for the first Iraq war. George Bush did that one very well. I had been skeptical. I was afraid that George Bush was going to treat the first Iraq war the way his son treated the second. Barney Frank should-have war son Take free speech: most of the tough cases on free speech involve very unpleasant people saying very obnoxious things. Barney Frank tough speech people They appear to have become so attached to their outrage that they are even more outraged that they won't be able to be outraged anymore. Barney Frank outrage outraged able I do not believe that the federal government should treat adults who choose to smoke marijuana as criminals. Barney Frank marijuana government believe I smoke a cigar or two a day. I did have a brownie once. It made me sleepy. Barney Frank sleepy cigar two It is, of course, further indication that a fundamentalist right has really taken over much of the Republican Party, People might cite George Bush as proof that you can be totally impervious to the effects of Harvard and Yale education. Barney Frank party taken yale I think there was an absolute, deep gap between consensual relations between adults, which people may like or dislike, and people who physically impose themselves on children or misuse their authority to impose on children. Barney Frank children people thinking Moderate Republicans are reverse Houdinis. They tie themselves up in knots and then tell you they can’t do anything because they’re tied up in knots. Barney Frank knots republican ties Community action is as valuable a principle on the international level as it has been domestically. Barney Frank levels community principles I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed, gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority. Barney Frank left-hand majority gay I do not think that any self-respecting radical in history would have considered advocating people’s rights to get married, join the Army, and earn a living as a terribly inspiring revolutionary platform. Barney Frank army rights thinking In a free society, a large degree of human activity is none of the government's business. We should make criminal what's going to hurt other people and other than that we should leave it to people to make their own choices. Barney Frank government hurt people In the debate between those who believe in essentially unregulated markets and others who hold that reasonable regulation diminishes market excesses without inhibiting their basic function, the subprime situation unfortunately provides ammunition for the latter view. Barney Frank excess views believe The issue is not that morals be applied to public policy, it's that conservatives bring public policy to spheres of our lives where it should not enter. Barney Frank spheres issues moral
