It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.
Alexander Hamilton in speech on 21 June 1788 urging ratification of the Constitution in New York
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Related quotes
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny their figure deformity.
quote by Alexander Hamilton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Conflicts Of Reality Dilutes The Truth For Many
There are those exclaiming,
The need and wish for less government...
In their lives.
In their wallets.
And their homes.
But...
Also these are the same people,
Who protest to have more money...
Of their own in their pockets.
Conflicts of reality dilutes the truth for many!
And not a face of theirs appears,
On the currency.
And if it is a penny or a dollar bill that is possessed,
The image imprinted has been a president.
Who has been elected to lead the government.
Few protesting keep this addressed.
And it seems many people will soon get their wish,
Because less government...
Is definitely going to be removed from the pockets.
And...
The evidence of that has already begun to appear.
Or disappear,
Depending on which side of the coin...
Is observed by many pinching pennies,
Being from them removed.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.
quote by Lewis Mumford
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People just want to hear some common sense... and I bring to bear the experience in local government and state government and national government - I was the first woman in history on the Senate Finance Committee - not to mention the diplomatic international experience.
quote by Carol Moseley Braun
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I believe in an America with a government of men devoted solely to the public interests — men of ability and dedication, free from conflict or corruption or other commitment — a responsible government that is efficient and economical, with a balanced budget over the years of the cycle, reducing its debt in prosperous times — a government willing to entrust the people with the facts that they have — not a businessman's government, with business in the saddle … not a labor government, not a farmer's government, not a government of one section of the country or another, but a government of, for and by the people.
quote by John F. Kennedy
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Anarchists
The leaders of this country,
Think were the ones that do wrong,
They take control of the power,
and steal this land of forgotten freedom
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
They call the ones dressed in black,
The evil ones but we fight back,
We've got hackers, we've got protesters,
we let no man left behind
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
The unions dressed in black,
With their flag raised up high,
Don't take no for an answer,
As the forces stain the streets with blood
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
We fight for the people,
Our obligation is good as gold,
And though we fight with arms of steel,
we don't let death go in vein
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
poem by Bing D'Amico
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Democrazy
DEMOCRAZY.
Melvin Banggollay
Many says
Democracy before
Is a government of the people,
by the will of the people,
for the people,
but to many people
fooled by other people
It's a government to off the people
, to buy the people and
fear the people
and this defines democrazy
of crazy people to off the people,
buy the will of the people
and fear the people.
Government must be sensitive enough
to respect the will of the people
for democracy to be always
a government
of the people,
by the people
for the people.
poem by Melvin Banggollay
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Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
quote by Winston Churchill (11 November 1947)
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The problem with the United Nations is that while democracy within nations is the best available form of government, democracy among nations can be a moral disaster - especially if some nations are not democracies.
quote by Jonah Goldberg
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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.
quote by Thomas Jefferson
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For Government To Be Fair!
for any government to be fair,
every citizen has to be
just as important as every other.
every citizen has to have equal rights,
whether black or white,
rich or poor, gay or straight.
whether they believe in the same god,
in another, or in none.
whether they speak english,
or another language.
whether they are educated,
or not!
every citizen has to have an equal chance,
for employment, for education,
for housing, for love and happiness.
and every citizen has to respect,
both himself, and others...
this government should be
a government by the people...
any leader should be from among the people.
government, small in tether,
large in affirmation!
we're not anywhere close to this in America!
we have been sold out by our own greed,
and have chosen in our apathy to follow the lie.
now it's come to a head!
what we do next determines if democracy works.
what we do next defines our level of humanity.
call it democracy, call it socialism,
it doesnt matter what you call it.
what it has to be is redemption...
what it has to bring, is freedom!
finally!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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So I think that if we want to have a Congress, if we want to have government that looks like America, if we want to have government that is truly a representative Democracy, then we need to clearly address how we get our campaign laws out of the way of Democracy.
quote by Carol Moseley Braun
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Now, al Qaeda's on the run. Afghanistan is no longer a base of operations. The Afghan government is a friendly government that is trying to bring democracy to its people.
quote by Condoleezza Rice
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Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.
quote by Hubert Humphrey
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In summary, the Romans were opposed to tyranny in any form; and the feature of government to which they gave the most thought was an elaborate system of checks and balances.
quote by Robert Welch
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True Leadership Offends
A true leadership offends.
Especially those who have grown,
To believe...
Their lack of comprehending it,
Depends upon how often...
They can prevent true leadership,
From becoming one that succeeds.
People scream for representation.
And delay those factors...
By an increased agitation.
But it is they who betray themselves this way!
With a determination stuck,
In a vapid decay.
A true leadership offends.
Especially those who have grown,
To believe...
Their lack of comprehending it,
Depends upon how often...
They can prevent true leadership,
From becoming one that succeeds.
With wishes of an independence,
That fractures and does not mend.
Raises false hopes of a failed democracy.
That eventaully introduces oppressive tyranny!
Giving a people spoiled by greed...
Exactly the kind of government,
No longer providing individual needs.
A tyranny comes to control as done.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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With attention deficit democracy, I am trying to wake up people to how the combination of mass ignorance, fear mongering by the government, and lying politicians is putting our entire system of government to a death spiral.
quote by James Bovard
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Laws, wisely administered, will secure men in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour, whether of mind or body, at a comparatively small personal sacrifice; but no laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. Such reforms can only be effected by means of individual action, economy, and self-denial; by better habits, rather than by greater rights. The Government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflex of the individuals composing it. The Government that is ahead of the people will inevitably be dragged down to their level, as the Government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up. In the order of nature, the collective character of a nation will as surely find its befitting results in its law and government, as water finds its own level. The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly. Indeed all experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a State depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men. For the nation is only an aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of the personal improvement of the men, women, and children of whom society is composed.
quote by Samuel Smiles
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Mirrors Of Our Time
THE ECONOMY is a hose.
The Government collects water from the people
and pours it into the top of the hose
and gives it back to the people.
Near the top of the hose is a hole.
A lot of the water pours out of this into a tank
marked Government which is always empty.
The rest flows down towards the people.
It passes other holes marked
Government Agencies
Government buildings
Government contingencies
Government perks
There are also holes marked
Lawyers
Accountants
Criminals.
The Government is always trying
to stop these last three holes.
Finally what is left of the water
reaches people at the end of the hose.
The people fight over it
(it is never enough) .
When they get very thirsty they start
to throw stones at the government
and threaten to sack them.
The government then reluctantly
pours more water into the top of the hose
(which they get from the people) .
Finally when the people are very thirsty indeed,
under the leadership of the
Lawyers
Accountants
and other Criminals,
they attack the tank marked Government
and break it open.
It is always empty.
Then many of the people die
(except for the Lawyers, Accountants
and other Criminals.)
The survivors go off and look for a new well,
drink as much as they can
as quickly as they can
and wait for a new Government to find them.
poem by Brian Taylor
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Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow.
quote by Elias Boudinot
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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