#citizen

[I]t is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or of any number of men, at the entering into society to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights, when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are life, liberty, and property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up an essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right of freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave. ↗

— Samuel Adams

#american-revolution #citizenship #freedom #state #freedom

Unless we include a job as part of every citizen's right to autonomy and personal fulfillment, women will continue to be vulnerable to someone else's idea of what need is. ↗

— Gloria Steinem

#citizen #continue #else #every #fulfillment

I Didn't Ask to Be a Senior Citizen (I Was Drafted) ↗

— Doug Jensen

#humor #old-age #senior-citizen #age

We are the country that has attracted the biggest volume of foreign investment in southeastern Europe in the past few years. Romania doesn't need to beat itself, believing that it is a second-class citizen. ↗

— Traian Basescu

#beat #believing #biggest #citizen #country

Armed and law-abiding citizens are a greater deterrent to violent crime than 1,000 laws passed by Congress. ↗

— Rick Perry

#citizens #congress #crime #deterrent #greater

Crucial to understanding federalism in modern day America is the concept of mobility, or 'the ability to vote with your feet.' If you don't support the death penalty and citizens packing a pistol - don't come to Texas. If you don't like medicinal marijuana and gay marriage, don't move to California. ↗

— Rick Perry

#america #california #citizens #come #concept

At its most basic the democratic contract is a simple one: the right to vote comes with a responsibility to society, through tax payments and citizenship. ↗

— Lucy Powell

#citizenship #comes #contract #democratic #most

Allowing our government to kill citizens compromises the deepest moral values upon which this country was conceived: the inviolable dignity of human persons. ↗

— Helen Prejean

#citizens #compromises #conceived #country #deepest

In a democracy, citizens pass judgment on their government, and if they are kept in the dark about what their government is doing, they cannot be in a position to make well-grounded decisions. ↗

— Peter Singer

#cannot #citizens #dark #decisions #democracy

In the period where I had to live the life of a citizen - a life where, like everybody else, I did tons of laundry and cleaned toilet bowls, changed hundreds of diapers and nursed children - I learned a lot. ↗

— Patti Smith

#changed #children #citizen #cleaned #diapers