The single most important thing you can do politically for gay rights is to come out. Not to write a letter to your congressman but to come out.
Barney FrankModerate Republicans are reverse Houdinis. They tie themselves up in knots and then tell you they canโt do anything because theyโre tied up in knots.
Barney FrankThe people who started the American government, the founders of the Constitution, didn't like political parties but they were forced to start them. Nobody ever created political parties in England, they evolved. And there do tend to be two general tendencies that focus around how much government you think you need.
Barney FrankThere is parallels these two great men John McCain and Ted Kennedy of great impact in the Senate, you don`t agree with everything they did but certainly they had major impacts as senators. Their one major political failure not to be elected president but that didn`t stop them from having enormous impact and at roughly the same age, exactly the same disease. It`s kind of a poignant sad parallel.
Barney FrankCommunity action is as valuable a principle on the international level as it has been domestically.
Barney FrankIn the West everybody recognizes the need for a private sector, pretty much, even the one Socialist group understands this now, and so there tends to be debate about how much public sector intervention you think is needed for a variety of reasons, and there are very important differences on party lines that should be fought out.
Barney Frank