John F. Kennedy Quotes

But, Jefferson worried that the people - and the argument goes back to Thucydides and Aristotle - are easily misled. He also stressed, passionately and repeatedly, that it was essential for the people to understand the risks and benefits of government, to educate themselves, and to involve themselves in the political process. Without that, he said, the wolves will take over.

I currently perform the most important political duties an American has the responsibility to perform - I experiment in self-government on a daily basis, fulfilling my "we the people" duties to monitor and guide our elected employees to adhere to their oath to the U.S. Constitution and demand accountability from them.

Freedom exists only where the people take care of the government.

A republic is not an easy form of government to live under, and when the responsibility of citizenship is evaded, democracy decays and authoritarianism takes over.

Americans cannot escape a certain responsibility for what is done in our name around the world. In a democracy, even one as corrupted as ours, ultimate authority rests with the people. We empower the government with our votes, finance it with our taxes, bolster it with our silent acquiescence. If we are passive in the face of America's official actions overseas, we in effect endorse them.

I am a political animal, because for God's sakes I think "We The People" is a job. I think experienced self government demands on all levels - intellectual, moral, historical, and spiritual level. We are supposed to be engaged and give directions to our elected employees.

The people of Zimbabwe have a responsibility to ensure that the government that they elected behaves properly.

You're a sovereign as a citizen. If you're not involved in your government, you're not doing your job. In the long run that's very bad for the Republic.

I believe that it is my right and responsibility as an American to question our government when our government is wrong.

Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.

Every citizen has to figure out what kind of government he or she wants.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

The value of government to the people it serves is in direct relationship to the interest citizens themselves display in the affairs of state.

I'm the one who initiated the democratic process.

Every country has the government it deserves.

It is not the Government, the members of Parliament to whom the ultimate decision belongs, it is up to you to go forward sure of your sacred right of free opinion, sure of your patriotism.

I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the First Amendment, don't understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don't understand that it's the responsibility of the citizen to speak out.

We create our own government. We are responsible for its beauty and for its ugliness. We are responsible for its glories and for its failures and, most important, we are responsible for amending those failures no matter who are their most immediate architects.

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.

In a democracy, people usually get the kind of government they deserve, and they deserve what they get.

It is the healthiest thing in a democracy when the people who are elected exert power.

Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust.

We as citizens should hold our government accountable for word and deed.

The process of our democracy must not be imperiled by the denial of essential powers of free government.

Democracy divides the population into two groups: those of us who complain about government and those of us who are complained about.