#govern

What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of freedom, both civil and political. ↗

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

#communication

Republican theory clearly stated that the people held all political power, and only they could delegate authority to a government. The people were free to change governments at will. They didn't need permission from incumbents. ↗

— James D. Best

#james-madison #political-theory #change

I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows. ↗

— Katherine Graham

#decide #democracy #flourishes #government #i

It's that Romney is taking advantage of the government's 'free stuff,' too, and has been profiting from it handsomely for a long, long time - even as he rails about the 'free stuff' that the government provides other people. ↗

— Jennifer M. Granholm

#advantage #been #even #free #free stuff

In any case, frequent punishments are a sign of weakness or slackness in the government. There is no man so bad that he cannot be made good for something. No man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society. ↗

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

#government #death

The strongest continuous thread in America's political tradition is skepticism about government. ↗

— George Will

#america #continuous #government #political #skepticism

They tax when you earn a dollar, they tax you when you save it, they tax you when you invest it. If you earn a dividend, they tax it again, and if you're stupid enough to die, they steal up to half. ↗

— Grover Norquist president of Americans for Tax Reform

#government #reform #taxes #death

Before God and high heaven, is there a law for one man which is not a law for every other man? ↗

— Howard Zinn

#equality #faith #government #history #equality

Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful. ↗

— Niccolò Machiavelli

#machiavelli #power #faith

People who cannot restrain their own baser instincts, who cannot treat one another with civility, are not capable of self-government... without virtue, a society can be ruled only by fear, a truth that tyrants understand all too well ↗

— Charles Colson

#faith #government #virtue #faith