This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions. If they approve the proposed Convention in all its parts, I shall concur in it cheerfully, in hopes that they will amend it whenever they shall find it work wrong.
The grounds of this are virtue and talents. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and working its change by construction, before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance.
In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.
They are construing our constitution from a coordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.
Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.
The object is to bring into action that mass of talents which lies buried in poverty in every country, for want of the means of development, and thus give activity to a mass of mind, which, in proportion to our population, shall be double or treble of what it is in most countries. I try to get something. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
It is a call to an untiring effort. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. I want every man to have [a] chance. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
William F. It is not to be challenged since it came originally from the sovereign people. I favor freedom—you never achieve real equality anyway: you simply sacrifice prosperity for an illusion. Public life gradually falls asleep. And our belief in human liberty is only ours when it is larger than ourselves.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. A coalition of a majority of the whole society could seldom take place upon any other principles, than those of justice and the general good. The minority could negative the will of the majority of the people.
They could extort measures by making them a condition of their assent to other necessary measures. They could obtrude measures on the majority by virtue of the peculiar powers which would be vested in the Senate. The evil instead of being cured by time, would increase with every new State that should be admitted, as they must all be admitted on the principle of equality. The perpetuity it would give to the preponderance of the Northern against the Southern Scale was a serious consideration.
The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of government. The inefficacy of this restraint on individuals is well known.
The conduct of every popular assembly, acting on oath, the strongest of religious ties, shews that individuals join without remorse in acts against which their consciences would revolt, if proposed to them separately in their closets.
When indeed religion is kindled into enthusiasm, its force like that of other passions is increased by the sympathy of a multitude. But enthusiasm is only a temporary state of religion, and whilst it lasts will hardly be seen with pleasure at the helm.
Even in its coolest state, it has been much oftener a motive to oppression than a restraint from it. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own.
Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.
In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them for their benefit. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their own will. Our country is our home, the home which God has given us, placing therein a numerous family which we love and are loved by … a family which by its concentration upon a given spot, and by the homogeneous nature of its elements, is destined for a special kind of activity.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Mencken also attributed to Alfred E. No officer of the law may set that law at defiance with impunity.
All the officers of the government from the highest to the lowest are bound to obey it. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak up, because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak up, because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for me … and by that time, there was no one to speak up for anyone. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. It must not be a distant thing, someone else's business, but they must see how every cog in the wheel of a democracy is important and bears its share of responsibility for the smooth running of the entire machine.
The nation looked to government but the government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that government is best which is most indifferent. For nearly four years you have had an administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves.
We will keep our sleeves rolled up. We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. Thus, government would become aware of what perhaps they had been hitherto fore unaware. In a true democracy, whatever the government does is — should be — in the name of, and for the benefit of, the people. If therefore something is being done in the name of, and for the benefit of a group, it is only prudent that that group is aware, is involved, takes part and participates in it.
That is where the engagement of the populace comes in. Protests and demonstrations are a necessary part of a democracy. These, when organized peacefully and properly, raise awareness about issues of national import not only for the government but for the nation as a whole. The Constitution guarantees every citizen certain rights and among those rights is the right to associate freely and belong to an association.
Thus, that expression may take the form of speech, writing, demonstrating, civil disobedience and other forms of protest. Equally, anyone can and may counter that through one of the various forms. This will only serve to enrich the national discourse and the country will come out stronger and better. The fact that more and more young people have started taking particular interest in the governance of the country sends a very positive signal for our future. Together, we can build a Gambia we will all be proud of.
While drawing parallels with the Shimla agreement, Gupta said that there were no questions raised and no answers offered when Indira Gandhi signed the agreement in The Parliamentary debates have come a long way since the days of halle mein paas karaa do Getting a Bill passed amidst confusion , he added. The root cause of the so-called consensual vacuum, Managing Director and Editor of The Pioneer Chandan Mitra, said was because political parties in general and politicians in particular did not have an ideology.
No wonder then that emergence of coalitions has spelt the death of ideologies per se. Mitra, a member of the Rajya Sabha, went on to explain how the Ministry of Rural Development had achieved a sort of ideological synchronisation. While taking an apparent dig at coalitions, Chandan Mitra said the political parties have ceased to strive for the mid-way bare majority mark of seats in the Lok Sabha.
All they vie for is seats because they know they can form the Government even with that figure. This is where the Aya Ram, Gaya Ram — a euphemism for defection — category of legislators comes in.
As the debate gained steam, Editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN Rajdeep Sardesai pointed out that the increasing focus on political issues was perhaps due to the rise of pink papers and the middle class elite. He went on to say that outside Delhi, the Government had virtually collapsed — the Congress had not held organisational elections for the past 24 months and the members of the BJP were mostly engaged in bringing their comrades down.
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