#government

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure. . . . If, today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us'; but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#government #separation-of-powers #us-presidents #president

If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it. ↗

— Mark Twain

#government #democracy

There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States. ↗

— Howard Zinn

#government #oligarchy #plutocracy #democracy

In a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy. ↗

— Matt Taibbi

#democracy #elections #government #greed #wall-street

Anarchy is a state of society where the only government is reason. ↗

— Michael Schwab

#government #reason #anarchism

If the jury have no right to judge of the justice of a law of the government, they plainly can do nothing to protect the people against the oppressions of the government; for there are no oppressions which the government may not authorize by law. ↗

— Lysander Spooner

#authorize #government #judge #jury #justice

I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. ↗

— Benjamin Franklin

#government #observation

Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual. ↗

— Frank Herbert

#nations #politics #creation

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. ↗

— Mark Twain

#determination

Selfishness and greed, individual or national, cause most of our troubles. ↗

— Harry S. Truman

#government #greed #national-troubles #problems #problems-in-the-world