A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretence of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government. Thomas Jefferson
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. Thomas Jefferson
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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. The Declaration of Independence
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and institute new Government. ibid.
Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. James Madison
Every new and successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance. James Madison
The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects for the protection of which Government was instituted. James Madison
A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion. Hugo Black
Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. Albert Einstein
Government and cooperation are in all things the laws of life; anarchy and competition the laws of death. John Ruskin, Unto this Last 1862
You have to stand up for what’s right in life. Unless you do that, you are nothing. Freedom and liberty is what people really want. And it’s time to stop the duplicity of government lying to us. Aaron Russo, interview Alex Jones
The Government is the problem, not the solution. Aaron Russo, Mad as Hell
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. George Washington
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. George Washington
Mankind when left to themselves are unfit for their own government. George Washington
The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period, the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labors of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government. George Washington
In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude. George Washington
If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, without question, ought to be superior. But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that, in which the determination precedes the discussion; in which one set of men deliberate, and another decide; and where those who form the conclusion are perhaps three hundred miles distant from those who hear the arguments?
To deliver an opinion, is the right of all men; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear; and which he ought always most seriously to consider. But authoritative instructions; mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and conscience, – these are things utterly unknown to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution. Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol 3rd November 1774
I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people. Edmund Burke, On Conciliation with America, 1775
I am not one of those who think that the people are never in the wrong. They have been so, frequently and outrageously, both in other countries and in this. But I do say, that in all disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption is at least upon a par in favour of the people. Edmund Burke
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom. Edmund Burke
And having looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them. Edmund Burke
The people are the masters. Edmund Burke, speech House of Commons 11th February 1780
Is this the government of Britain’s isle,
And in her heart she scorns our poverty. William Shakespeare, II Henry VI I iii 47
The people as a source of sovereign power are in truth only occasional partners in the constitutional minuet danced for most of the time by Parliament and the political party in power. Lord Scarman, The Shape of Things to Come 1989
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it. Abraham Lincoln
Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable – a most sacred right – a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Abraham Lincoln
The government should create, issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying power of consumers.
The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of government, but it is the government’s greatest creative opportunity.
By the adoption of these principles, the long-felt want for a uniform medium will be satisfied. The taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest, discounts and exchanges.
The financing of all public enterprises, the maintenance of stable government and ordered progress, and the conduct of the Treasury will become matter of practical administrators.
The people can and will be furnished with a currency as safe as their own government. Money will cease to be the master and become the servant of humanity.
Democracy will rise, superior to the money power. Abraham Lincoln
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent. I say this is the leading principle, the sheet-anchor of American republicanism ... Now the relation of master and slave is pro tanto a total violation of this principle. The master not only governs the slave without his consent, but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those which he prescribes for himself. Allow ALL the governed an equal voice in the government, and that, and that only, is self-government. Abraham Lincoln, speech Peoria Illinois
Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
I heartily accept the motto, ‘That government is best which governs least’ ... Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, – ‘That government is best which governs not at all’. ibid.
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. ibid.