Founding Quotes - Page 19

• The truly revolutionary promise of our nation's founding document is the freedom to pursue happiness-with-a-capital-H.

  Dan Savage

  Promise, Revolutionary, Pursue

  Dan Savage (2003). “Skipping Towards Gomorrah”, p.8, Penguin

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• The power of the silent filibuster to distort Senate politics is now accepted on Capitol Hill and by the press as normal and not worth mentioning. Let me be the skunk at this political garden party and say this stinks. Representative government was not designed to work this way by the Founding Fathers.

  Juan Williams

  Father, Party, Garden

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• Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.

  James Madison

  Religious, Atheist, Secular Society

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• Conservatism is not the problem. Conservatism is the founding of this country, essentially. Conservatism isn't even really an ideology. Conservatism is just what is right, proper, decent, and moral. That's all it is.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Country, Moral, Problem

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• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Change, Happiness

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

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• If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, America, People

  Thomas Jefferson (1950). “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 39: 13 November 1802 to 3 March 1803”, p.84, Princeton University Press

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• This election presents a stark choice - we can continue down the road of the Obama Democrats, more and more spending, debt and government control of the economy, or we can return to the founding principles of our nation - free markets, fiscal responsibility and individual liberty.

  Ted Cruz

  Responsibility, Government, Choices

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• I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, Government, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”, p.404

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• It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.

  George Washington

  Bible, Thanksgiving, God

  Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

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• Our expanding ethnic diversity of this century, a time when we will all be minorities, offers us an invitation to create a larger memory of who we are as Americans and to re-affirm our founding principle of equality. Let's put aside fears of the disuniting of America and warnings of the clash of civilizations. As Langston Hughes sang, Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe.

  Ronald Takaki

  Time, Memories, Equality

  "What does it mean to be Asian American? / The passing of Cal Prof. Ronald Takaki, who helped define the term, leads Jeff Yang to reflect on its relevance in the Age of Obama" by Jeff Yang, www.sfgate.com. June 4, 2009.

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• If ever again our nation stumbles upon unfunded paper, it shall surely be like death to our body politic. This country will crash.

  George Washington

  Country, Paper, Body

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• Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.

  Charles Carroll of Carrollton

  Christian, Government, Sublime

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• Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.

  Samuel Adams

  Law, Government, People

  The Advertiser, 1748.

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• The problem is that democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism, which is inherently incompatible with real freedom. Our founding fathers clearly understood this.

  Ron Paul

  Father, Real, Democracy

  "Democracy Isn’t Freedom" by Ron Paul, www.lewrockwell.com. February 7, 2005.

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• I favor free trade in drugs for the same reason the Founding Fathers favored free trade in ideas: in a free society it is none of the government's business what ideas a man puts into his mind; likewise, it should be none of its business what drugs he puts into his body.

  Thomas Szasz

  Father, Men, Ideas

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• ...if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.

  Noah Webster

  Selfish, Men, Rights

  Noah Webster (1835). “Instructive and Entertaining Lessons for Youth: With Rules for Reading with Propriety, Illustrated by Examples: Designed for Use in Schools and Families”, p.230

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• Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him (i.e. Jesus) by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Jesus, Ignorance

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• Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Children, Hypocrite

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786”, p.80, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible's teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual. This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own Nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

  Ronald Reagan

  Bible, God, Religious

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan)., Ronald Reagan, United States. Office of the Federal Register (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

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• Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Bible, God, Religious

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1959). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1955”, p.274, Best Books on

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• Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant. They're quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the 10 Commandments.

  Sarah Palin

  Silly, Law, Conservative

  "Sarah Palin on National Day of Prayer Controversy". "The O'Reilly Factor" with Bill O'Reilly, www.foxnews.com. May 6, 2010.

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• Yet when the blood of the sons of immigrants and the grandsons of slaves fell on foreign fields, it was American blood. In it you could not read the ethnic particulars of the soldier who died next to you. He was an American. And when I think of how we learned this lesson, I wonder how we could have unlearned it.

  Bob Dole

  Dream, Morning, Father

  "Text of Robert Dole's Speech To The Republican National Convention August 15, 1996". www.cnn.com.

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• Our Founding Fathers understood that our country would survive and flourish if our Nation was committed to good character and an unyielding dedication to liberty and justice for all.

  George W. Bush

  Country, Father, Character

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• Baseball may be our national pastime, but the age-old tradition of taking a swing at Congress is a sport with even deeper historical roots in the American experience. Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials.

  Evan Bayh

  Sports, Country, Baseball

  "Why I’m Leaving the Senate" by Evan Bayh, www.nytimes.com. February 20, 2010.

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• It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God.

  George Washington

  Thanksgiving, Presidential, Duty To God

  Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

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