#amen

The fundamental purpose of government is to protect its citizens. ↗

— Arlen Specter

#fundamental #fundamental purpose #government #protect #purpose

I am a Colorado native, and, no, I did not vote for the anti-gay amendment or the same-sex marriage ban, and I am not a member of a militia. ↗

— Connie Willis

#amendment #ban #colorado #did #i

I thought perhaps it should be recognized that religious people, including fundamentalists, are quite intelligent, many of them are highly educated, and they should be treated with complete respect. ↗

— E. O. Wilson

#educated #fundamentalists #highly #i #including

To this congress the poet speaks not of peculiar and personal things, but of what in himself is most common, most anonymous, most fundamental, most true of all men. ↗

— Richard Wilbur

#common #congress #fundamental #himself #men

I thoroughly enjoy getting away from the game and going out fishing because it's so relaxing, so quiet and peaceful. I mean, there's no noise other than nature - and it's so different from what I do in a tournament situation that it just eases my mind. ↗

— Tiger Woods

#because #different #eases #enjoy #fishing

The Washington Times wrote a story questioning the authenticity of some of the suggestions made about me in Silent Coup. But as a believer in the First Amendment, I believe they have more than a right to air their views. ↗

— Bob Woodward

#air #amendment #authenticity #believe #believer

If human beings are fundamentally good, no government is necessary; if they are fundamentally bad, any government, being composed of human beings, would be bad also. ↗

— Fred Woodworth

#also #any #bad #being #beings

Our priorities require that all children of Palestine, men and women, be ready for conflict, both from the standpoint of training and from the standpoint of armament. ↗

— Ahmed Yassin

#both #children #conflict #men #men and women

[T]here is both an intrinsic and instrumental value to privacy. Intrinsically, privacy is precious to the extent that it is a component of a liberty. Part of citizenship in a free society is the expectation that one's personal affairs and physical person are inviolable so long as one remains within the law. A robust concept of freedom includes the freedom from constant and intrusive government surveillance of one's life. From this perspective, Fourth Amendment violations are objectionable for the simple fact that the government is doing something it has no licence to do–that is, invading the privacy of a law-abiding citizen by monitoring her daily activities and laying hands on her person without any evidence of wrongdoing. Privacy is also instrumental in nature. This aspect of the right highlights the pernicious effects, rather than the inherent illegitimacy, of intrusive, suspicionless surveillance. For example, encroachments on individual privacy undermine democratic institutions by chilling free speech. When citizens–especially those espousing unpopular viewpoints–are aware that the intimate details of their personal lives are pervasively monitored by government, or even that they could be singled out for discriminatory treatment by government officials as a result of their First Amendment expressive activities, they are less likely to freely express their dissident views. ↗

— John W. Whitehead

#constitution #constitutional-rights #first-amendment #fourth-amendment #free-speech

Some people suggest that the problem is the separation of powers. If you had a parliamentary system, the struggle for power would not result in such complex peace treaties that empower so many different people to pursue so many contradictory aims. ↗

— James Q. Wilson

#complex #contradictory #different #different people #empower