The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
Related quotes
Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
That's what the Senate is about. It's the last bastion of minority rights, where a minority can be heard, where a minority can stand on its feet, one individual if necessary, and speak until he falls into the dust.
quote by Robert Byrd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
My office has been one of the most scrupulous in the country with regard to the protection of individual rights. I've been on record for years in law journals and books as championing the rights of the individual against the oppressive power of the state.
quote by Jim Garrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
My belief has always been ... that wherever in this land any individual's constitutional rights are being unjustly denied, it is the obligation of the federal government-at point of bayonet if necessary-to restore that individual's constitutional rights.
quote by Ronald Reagan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The individual will always be a minority. If a man is in a minority of one, we lock him up.
quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
All initiation of force is a violation of someone else's rights, whether initiated by an individual or the state, for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals, even if it's supposed to be for the benefit of another individual or group of individuals.
Now, I think that in acknowledging that every individual Member of Parliament and indeed every individual member of the Labour Party, has rights to express their view in a spirit of tolerance.
quote by Ron Davies
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
On Torture We Should Not Keep Our Silence
In many so called Democratic Countries Human Rights laws are being transgressed
And people due to their difference from others are imprisoned and oppressed
And suffer the worst forms of torture should we in silence stand idly by
For a wrong against any individual is a wrong against you and I.
A loss of Human rights to any individual is a loss of rights to all
The huge plague of locusts destroyed the grain crops though their numbers once were small
And like the locusts those who go along with torture their numbers multiply
But on such a matter for me to keep my silence would be to live a lie.
On torture we should not keep our silence 'tis time we made a stand
I've got a lethal weapon here the pen is in my hand
I may not command much power but to my own self I must be true
For if you do not speak out against torture you become a torturer too.
In many so called Democratic Countries Governments to torture turn a blind eye
And people due to torture have even been known to die
And those who keep their silence on such a matter are saying
torture is okay
Though a loss of rights to one individual is a loss of rights to all or to me 'twould seem that way.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Minority Government
The wise are in minority.
The rulers are in minority
Rogues too are in minority.
So are captains and militants.
Teachers are in minority.
Bishops are in minority.
Juries too are minority.
So are smugglers and the rich.
Americans are in minority.
Human beings are in minority.
Minority rules the majority.
Minority rides the majority.
Majority yields to minority.
Majority fears the minority,
And loves to play the role of drudgery.
The sign of majority is slavery
23.09.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.
As a confirmed individualist I certainly do not wish to underrate the influence of the individual, for the masses do not lead the individual; rather, in the individual is vested the capacity to lead the masses.
quote by Gustav Stresemann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
There Is No Such Thing As An Individual
She looked at me
and asked.
'What is your answer? '
I was startled
and caught up short.
Simple question.
But I did not know
what the answer was.
'Who am I'?
I blurted out
vying for time;
I gave her my name
narrowing it to the millions
of Jim Jones in the world.
But am I my name?
She said
What else.?
'I am Hedi's Father
and Lisa's husband'
but before this response rolled away
into silence
I knew it wasn't enough.
So who else?
'I like hockey' I said
and knew even this
fell short.
How do I single out
the Me among millions?
What could I say
without out offering
fingerprints or DNA?
What would you say?
Maybe I should have given her
an address.
Only I live there.
But my address
is not my essence.
So who
in fact
is the I-
the me,
that I see-
as individual
and precious?
I really didn't
at that point
have an answer.
What about achievements?
.
How many individuals have
my job
and my name?
Fewer still.
This at least narrows it.
But then
the thought came;
I am not an individual.
I am the Me that
has a family and a history
a genealogy;
only me
has that.
I am not an individual
but a person
who can be identified
in the web of relationships
which surround me;
have surrounded me;
which in the end
have defined me.
I am not an individual.
I am all the people who
have influenced me-
nurtured me been kind to me or hurtful.
So there is then
this myth of the individual
which is not so.
But if this is not true
is it not so that much
of society and indeed Democracy itself
is premised
on the creating the conditions
for individual expression;
individual growth?
Is this premise correct
and the individual lives;
or is it that more real
is society and social relationships.?
So which is which?
But then again, one cannot touch society.
Confusing no?
poem by Lonnie Hicks
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.
quote by Clarence Thomas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Public Safety
You have no 'constitutional' rights,
To police protection.
The police are there to uphold the 'law'.
Public safety...
That's all!
And 'if' it has been determined,
That 'law' has been broken...
Guess who is going to jail?
That is certain.
Those 'laws' will prevail!
People yelling, 'Protect me and mine! '
Will find themselves ignored,
Most of the time!
Police are trained to deal with you psychologically...
However,
Your individual needs...
Are not theirs to feed!
Your rights to protect yourself is best.
And that's why the streets are full of such unrest!
IF you have problems with this as it is...
Know what those laws are!
And why crime has risen...
Bringing folks to tears.
And your individual feelings,
Are not part of constitutional business!
You have no 'constitutional' rights,
To police protection.
The police are there to uphold the 'law'.
Public safety...
That's all!
And your taxes 'may' be used,
To fill a pothole!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I am concerned about the attitude of a candidate or his sponsors with respect to the rights of American citizens to assemble peaceably and to express publicly their views and opinions on important social and economic issues. There can be no constitutional democracy in any community which denies to the individual his freedom to speak and worship as he wishes. The American people will not be deceived by anyone who attempts to suppress individual liberty under the pretense of patriotism.
quote by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Stranded In A Limousine
paul simon.
he was a mean individual,
he had a heart like a bone,
he was a naturally crazy man,
and better off left alone,
he stopped one nite, at a traffic lite,
and when that lite turned green,
he was a mean individual, stranded in a limousine.
hey, hey, hey,hey,
all the children on the street,
come running out their front doors,
running out their back doors,
flying on their feet,
they said mama oh, papa oh,
see what i have seen,
theres a mean individual,
stranded in a limousine.
then everybody come running,
everybody said, lordy lord,
everybody was gunning,
gonna divvy up the re-ward,
then wah wah wah wah wah wah wah,
a siren,
a flashing lite,
but the mean individual, had vanished in the black of nite.
hey hey hey
they wondered where to begin,
cos he left that neighborhood,
just like a rattlesnake, sheds its skin,
then they searched the roofs, and checked out the groups,
and they photographed the scene,
of the mean individual,
stranded in a limousine.
song performed by by Paul Simon
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The whole of the Bill of Rights is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals... It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of.
quote by Albert Gallatin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
An individual step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual.
quote by Robert Baden-Powell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
For the Absolute, as we now know, all life is individual, but is individual as expressing a meaning.
quote by Josiah Royce
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
No individual has a vested right to a job when that individual fails to perform adequately.
quote by James E. Rogers
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!