#government

They think the government shows people everything —how to work, study, eat, sleep and that’s it. They are afraid of change. They do not understand that if you want to do something, you should do it. You are free, people, free! ↗

— Anton Krotov

#fear #free #government #power #change

The experience taught him [Salvador Allende] too late that a system cannot be changed from the government but from the power. ↗

— Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

#chile #government #power #change

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

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

Plato argued that good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will always find a way around law. By pretending that procedure will get rid of corruption, we have succeeded only in humiliating honest people and provided a cover of darkness and complexity for the bad people. There is a scandal here, but it's not the result of venal bureaucrats. (1994) p. 99 ↗

— Philip K. Howard

#bureaucrats #conservative #corruption #government #plato

Uniformity in the common law, consisting of broad principles like the "reasonable person" standard, generally permits adjustment for the circumstances. This type of uniform principle is almost synonymous with fairness. Uniform application of a detailed rule, on the other hand, will almost always favor one group over another. p. 34 ↗

— Philip K. Howard

#common-law #fairness #government #law #politics

Since governments take the right of death over their people, it is not astonishing if the people should sometimes take the right of death over governments." [On Water] ↗

— Guy de Maupassant

#government #people #punishment #retribution #revolts

Representative government is artifice, a political myth, designed to conceal from the masses the dominance of a self-selected, self-perpetuating, and self-serving traditional ruling class. ↗

— Giuseppe Prezzolini

#government #oligarchy #plutocracy #voting #design