People need to make their voices heard and take part in public participation processes, as this helps the government make decisions and introduce legislation that works for all.

We need different voices in government—not for the sake of different voices, but because it actually makes a difference in policy.

I think that the needs of the people, that is, the majority of the people – healthcare, education, security, and water.

We have got to include all the voices in our democracy. That's how we preserve democracy, that's how we build accountable government, that's how you build responsive government.

Both men and women should be able to engage with the government they elect.

At a time when politics and power decide who is important enough to be fed, to be safe, to be free, those of us who have a voice in this world must speak boldly, loudly, insistently for those who cannot speak for themselves.

To truly understand that attaining accessible education, accessible healthcare, and ending poverty, means ensuring that we are cognizant of the voices and lives of people like me; whether it's people who are brown skinned, African, Indigenous, Queer identifying, disabled

We need to end the silence and put pressure on governments and the private sector to prioritize mental health care reform. And the reform process needs to be guided by informed decision-making that includes the voices and stories of people with lived experience.

And if so many brave men and women could sacrifice their lives for our most fundamental rights, then surely we can do our parts as citizens of this great democracy to exercise those rights. Surely we can get to the polls on an election day and make our voices heard.

To listen to the interests of all, marks an ordinary government; to foresee them, marks a great government.

The desire to be heard is one of the most basic human demands in today's world. Communication does not take place if listening has not taken place, and there is no good journalism without the ability to listen well. Society is losing the ability to listen well both in everyday interactions and when debating issues of society.

We have always wanted community input. We have to meet people where they are and we want them to tell us how their government can work for them not the other way around

The sixth major need is for an open and efficient Government. Now I've done the best I could to open up the Presidency. I've talked publicly about foreign policy matters that were formerly considered too secret and too complicated for the ears of the American people. I've had frequent press conferences, and I've had direct encounters with people who don't normally get to work--get to talk to a President. When I leave here this morning, I'll go to one of the Los Angeles television stations and for an hour and a half, I will receive calls from people throughout this part of California asking me questions, unscreened, on any subject they choose. I feel that it's important for the American people to know what's going on. But I also feel it's important for a President to learn from the people of this country. And I want you to know what the options are and what the problems are and w hat the possibilities are in complicated matters like the control of the nuclear weapons, the resolution of problems in southern Africa, the Middle East, and also in domestic questions which I've discussed with you today. I want you to be a partner with me in making our Government be effective and efficient. There are many other ways that we can build more openness and responsiveness into our system of government. We can make the activities of government officials devote themselves exclusively to the public interest. I've asked the Congress to impose strict financial disclosure requirements for more than 13,000 top Federal Government executives. This will make it very difficult for high Government officials to have interests which conflict with those of the public. And we should insist on the same high standards for private institutions. That's why I proposed to Congress making foreign bribery by American companies and officials a crime.

Listening to an underserved population is how you begin to understand them and serve them better.