Governmental Obligations Quotes

Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what your government is doing to you.

If we avail ourselves to serve in terms of the Constitution, we should be prepared if, indeed, those we serve deem it appropriate to suffer the hardship that comes with our constitutional obligations.

It may be truly said of every government, as well as of that of the United States, that it has only a right to pass such laws as are necessary and proper to accomplish the objects entrusted to it. For no government has a right to do merely what it pleases

The world does not owe any man a living, but we all owe one another a living.

The Catholics, so far as I know, whether of native or foreign birth, are willing to fight to the death for the support of the constitution, the Government and the laws of the country. But if it should be understood that, with or without knowing it, they are to fight for the abolition of slavery, then, indeed, they will turn away in disgust from the discharge of what would otherwise be a patriotic duty.

When Congress exercises the powers delegated to it by the Constitution, it may impose affirmative obligations on executive and judicial officers of state and local governments as well as ordinary citizens.

The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.

We must never forget what government is not. Government is not a philanthropic organization. Government is not the family. And government certainly is not the church.

The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion of Jesus: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." Bokonon's paraphrase was this: "Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on.

Holding office often requires swearing an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Running for office should include accepting responsibility for this, too, so that our democratic republic's underpinnings can remain strong for generations to come.

Whatever your views are, we have a Constitution and we have a Bill of Rights, and we have a law of the land. Two thirds of Democrats in the Senate and three fourths of the Republicans. I signed it, and I am going to enforce it, and I am going to observe it. And I think anyone who is worthy of the high office of President is going to do the same thing.

There are institutional obligations I have to carry out that are important for a president of the United States to carry out, but may not always align with what I think would move the ball down the field on the issues that I care most deeply about.

Americans, by means of the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the Constitution, entered into a social contract which the successive generations assent to yet change its meanings with the changing contexts of different times.

Any spark of love for country which may be generated in a child or his associates by forcing him to make what is to him an empty gesture and recite words wrung from him contrary to his religious beliefs is overshadowed by the desirability of preserving freedom of conscience to the full.

Our elected officials must understand that we, the American people, expect them to perform the duties of their office, even when that means working with other elected officials from different parties.

If it becomes necessary for me to act, or merely to lay before the Congress a statement of what occurred, I want to know fully the exact facts.