Tag Archives: The People

Thought For the Day: I Fear To See the Consequences of the Court’s Practice of Substituting Its Own Concepts of Decency and Fundamental Justice For the Language of the Bill of Rights

“In my judgment the people of no nation can lose their liberty so long as a Bill of Rights like ours survives and its basic purposes are conscientiously interpreted, enforced and respected so as to afford continuous protection against old, … Continue reading →

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First Principles: There Is No Art Which One Government Sooner Learns of Another Than That of Draining Money From the Pockets of the People

“There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.” – Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

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First Principles: A General Dissolution of Principles and Manners Will More Surely Overthrow the Liberties of America Than the Whole Force of the Common Enemy

“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then … Continue reading →

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First Principles: There Are More Instances of the Abridgement of the Freedom of the People By Gradual and Silent Encroachment of Those In Power Than by Violent and Sudden Usurpations

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the People by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison

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First Principles: I Tremble For My Country When I Reflect That God Is Just; That His Justice Cannot Sleep Forever

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be … Continue reading →

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First Principles: The People Alone Have the Incontestable…Right to Institute Government; and To Reform, Alter, or Totally Change the Same, When Their Protection, Safety, Prosperity and Happiness Require It

“…(T)he people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.” – John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

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First Principles: There Are More Instances of the Abridgment of the Freedom of the People By Gradual and Silent Encroachments of Those In Power Than By Violent and Sudden Usurpations

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison (1788)

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First Principles: I Know No Safe Depository of the Ultimate Powers of the Society But the People Themselves

“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from … Continue reading →

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First Principles: Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without A General Knowledge Among the People

“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to … Continue reading →

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Thought For the Day: The Real Destroyer of the Liberties of the People Is He Who Spread Among Them Bounties, Donations, and Benefits

“The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.” – -Greek Historian Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus

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