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The career politicians in Washington had transformed a government for the people into a government for themselves and for special interests.

Tom Coburn

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Tom Coburn
Age: 72 †
Born: 1948
Born: March 14
Died: 2020
Died: March 28
Obstetrician
Physician
Politician
United States Senator
Casper
Wyoming
Thomas Allen Coburn
People
Career
Careers
Special
Politics
Transformed
Term
Politicians
Interest
Washington
Political
Interests
Government
Politician

More quotes by Tom Coburn

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It is a real issue, a measurement of our society, when we say it's fine to destroy unborn life who has a heartbeat at 16 days post-conception.
Tom Coburn
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I still believe that term limits is the best way to ensure that the next generation, not the next election, is the central concern in our elected bodies.
Tom Coburn
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When we have heartbeat and brain waves, we refuse to accept it as the presence of life - this lack of logic of which we approach this issue because we like and we favor convenience over ethics. We favor convenience over the hard parts of life that actually make us grow.
Tom Coburn
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A super-legislator body is not what the court was intended to be, When I ponder our country and its greatness, its weakness, its potential, my heart aches for less divisiveness, less polarization, less finger-pointing, less bitterness, less mindless partisanship.
Tom Coburn
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I would like to believe I would not have behaved differently had I not made a term limits pledge, but my own frailties and human desire for prestige and position tell me my term limits pledge did make a difference in how I approached my job in Congress.
Tom Coburn
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Statesmen exhibit five key commitments: 1) A commitment to principles above politics 2) An ability to compromise without abandoning principle 3) A commitment to truth over spin 4) A commitment to courage over cowardice and 5) A commitment, or willingness, to give up power.
Tom Coburn
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It is easy to see how after receiving this adoration for a term or two most members become convinced they are indispensable.
Tom Coburn
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An easily accessible and transparent database of contract information will bring sunshine into the confusing and sometimes shadowy practice of government contracting.
Tom Coburn
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My relationship with Barack Obama isn't based on my political philosophy or his.
Tom Coburn
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Expose widespread waste and duplication in federal spending.
Tom Coburn
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Lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that's happened to us?
Tom Coburn
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It is inexcusable for the White House and Congress to not even make the effort to find at least some offsets to this new spending, ... No one in America believes the federal government is operating at peak efficiency and can't tighten its belt.
Tom Coburn
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Senator [Sam] Brownback talked about those with disabilities that are destroyed in the womb because of a genetic test that is sometimes wrong. I would put forward that we all have disabilities.
Tom Coburn
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Everybody in America is going to have to sacrifice to help us rebuild the Gulf Coast. Every government program, every individual, we are all going to have to sacrifice
Tom Coburn
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Few things infuse a member of Congress with more courage than self-imposed term limits or an imminent retirement. The issues they choose to focus on in their final months say a great deal about what are really the most important issues in the country.
Tom Coburn
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I'm very disturbed at the picture that was painted by Senator Ted Kennedy that Samuel Alito is not a man of his word, that he is dishonest. The implication that he is not reliable I don't think is a fair characterization of what I've read.
Tom Coburn
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Welfare reform happened with reconciliation half the Democrats voted for it. The Bush tax cuts happened with reconciliation twelve Democratic Senators voted for it. You didn't have a real partisan issue on those times that it was used
Tom Coburn
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When I came to Washington, I was troubled to observe so many similarities between the behaviors of drug-addicted patients and my political colleagues. In Washington power is like morphine.
Tom Coburn
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You have to be courageous to not spend money, ... and we don't have many people who have that courage.
Tom Coburn
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The founding fathers never once rationalized getting in power and having control so they could stay in power.
Tom Coburn