Government Quotes - Page 20

• Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Integrity, Men

  "A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing". Book edited by H. L. Mencken, 1949.

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• We don't have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government.

  Vince Vaughn

  Arms, Bears, Abusive

  "Vince Vaughn: guns in schools will prevent mass shootings" by Benjamin Lee, www.theguardian.com. June 1, 2015.

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• The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign affairs. Let the General Government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our General Government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Independent, Simple, Organization

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin”, p.331

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• I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.

  Edward Snowden

  Nsa, People, Liberty

  "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations". Article by Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, www.theguardian.com. June 11, 2013.

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• Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee.

  F. Lee Bailey

  Usa, Rights, Political

  "Newsweek" Magazine, April 17, 1967.

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• I emphasize teachers because they are largely left out of the debate. None of the bombastic reports that come from Washington and think tanks telling us what needs to be 'fixed' - I hate such a mechanistic word, as if our schools were automobile engines - ever asks the opinions of teachers.

  Jonathan Kozol

  Education, Teacher, Hate

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• 

  The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Libertarian Party

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.29, Vintage

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• And it's a human need to be told stories. The more we're governed by idiots and have no control over our destinies, the more we need to tell stories to each other about who we are, why we are, where we come from, and what might be possible.

  Alan Rickman

  Destiny, People, Where We Come

  "Interview: Alan Rickman on “Nobel Son”". Interview with Aaron Hillis, www.ifc.com. December 4.

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• The institution of royalty in any form is an insult to the human race.

  Mark Twain

  Inspiration, Humility, Race

  Mark Twain, Michael Barry Frank, Robert Pack Browning, Lin Salamo, Frederick Anderson, Mark Twain (1980). “Mark Twain's Notebooks & Journals, Volume III: (1883-1891)”, p.424, Univ of California Press

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• Pro and con are opposites, that fact is clearly seen. If progress means to move forward, then what does congress mean?

  Nipsey Russell

  Funny, Humorous, Moving

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• The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.

  William Colby

  War, Agency, Media

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• I bring quadruple diversity to the Senate: I'm a woman; I'll be the first Asian woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate; I am an immigrant; I am a Buddhist. When I said this at one of my gatherings, they said, 'Yes, but are you gay?' and I said, 'Nobody's perfect.'

  Mazie Hirono

  Buddhist, Gay, Perfect

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• We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrongsomebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promisesI say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we startedAnd an enormous debt to boot!

  Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

  Country, Money, Jobs

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• Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the State.

  James Jesus Angleton

  Country, Historical, Deception

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• The law has no claim to human respect. It has no civilizing mission; its only purpose is to protect exploitation.

  Peter Kropotkin

  Respect, Law, People

  "The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations: Cutting Comments on Burning Issues". Book by Chaz Bufe, p. 26, 1992.

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• The President is no more than a well-meaning baboon. I went to the White House directly after tea, where I found "The Original Gorilla", about as intelligent as ever. What a specimen to be at the head of our affairs now.

  George B. McClellan

  War, Intelligent, White

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• The state is or can be master of money, but in a free society it is master of very little else.

  William Beveridge

  Money, Freedom, Society

  "Voluntary Action" by William Beveridge, (Ch. 12), 1948.

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• There's going to be a new code on Parliament Hill: bend the rules, you will be punished; break the law, you will be charged; abuse the public trust, you will go to prison.

  Stephen Harper

  Trust, Law, Punishment

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• Education is the most powerful tool countries have for boosting economic growth, increasing prosperity and forging more just, peaceful and equitable societies. Where educational deprivation exists, it breeds conflict and enables repression.

  Wendy Kopp

  Education, Country, Powerful

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• Stephen Harper is probably the most dangerous human being ever elevated to power in Canada.

  Farley Mowat

  Power, Political, Canada

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• When plunder becomes a way of life, men create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Life, Money, Men

  "Economic Sophisms". Book by Frédéric Bastiat, Second series, 1848.

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• The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

  Daniel Webster

  4th Of July, People, Political

  Second Speech on Foote's Resolution, U.S. Senate, 26 Jan. 1830 See Lincoln 42; Theodore Parker 1; Theodore Parker 2

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• The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum for determining the "rule of the game" and as an umpire to interpret and enforce the rules decided on.

  Milton Friedman

  Games, Umpires, Essentials

  "Capitalism and Freedom". Book by Milton Friedman, 1962.

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• When government accepts responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves.

  George Pataki

  Responsibility, Acceptance, People

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• Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Pursuit Of Happiness, People, Liberty

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

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