Constitutional Government Quotes

Communism is not a political party nor a political plan under the Constitution; it is a system of government that is the opposite of our Constitutional government, and it would be necessary to destroy our government before Communism could be set up in the United States ... [Communism] even reaches its hand into the sanctity of the family circle itself, disrupting the normal relationship of parent and child, all in a manner unknown and unsanctioned under the Constitutional guarantees under which we in America live. ~ David O. McKay

If such crimes against the citizens of the state of West Virginia go unreduced by the government, I suggest that we take down the flag that stands for constitutional government, and run up a banner saying 'This is the flag of the money oligarchy of America. ~ Mother Jones

There are still two forms besides democracy and oligarchy; one of them is universally recognized and included among the four principal forms of government, which are said to be (1) monarchy, (2) oligarchy, (3) democracy, and (4) the so-called aristocracy or government of the best. But there is also a fifth, which retains the generic name of polity or constitutional government; ~ Aristotle.

My first example concerns Satan's efforts to corrupt a person who has an unusual commitment to one particular doctrine or commandment of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This could be an unusual talent for family history work, an extraordinary commitment to constitutional government, a special gift in the acquisition of knowledge, or any other special talent or commitment.

In a memorable message given at the 1971 October conference, Elder Boyd K. Packer likened the fulness of the gospel to a piano keyboard. He reminded us that a person could be "attracted by a single key," such as a doctrine they want to hear "played over and over again." He explained:

Some members of the Church who should know better pick out a hobby key or two and tap them incessantly, to the irritation of those around them. They can dull their own spiritual sensitivities. They lose track that there is a fulness of the gospel, . . . [which they reject] in preference to a favorite note. This becomes exaggerated and distorted, leading them away into apostasy. [Boyd K. Packer, Teach Ye Diligently (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1975), p. 44]

We could say of such persons, as the Lord said of the members of the Shaker sect in a revelation given in 1831, "Behold, I say unto you, that they desire to know the truth in part, but not all" (D&C 49:2). And so, I say, beware of a hobby key. If you tap one key to the exclusion or serious detriment of the full harmony of the gospel keyboard, S ~ Dallin H. Oaks

If we add state capitalism to the Bush administration's success in eroding both the US Constitution and the power of Congress, we may be witnessing the final death of accountable constitutional government. ~ Paul Craig Roberts

The growth of constitutional government, as we now understand it, was promoted by the establishment of two different sets of machinery for making laws and carrying on government. ~ Albert Bushnell Hart

Now judicial review, beloved by conservatives, can, of course, fulfill the excellent function of declaring government interventions and tyrannies unconstitutional. But it can also validate and legitimize the government in the eyes of the people by declaring these actions valid and constitutional. ~ Murray Rothbard

It was an idea that made the crucial difference between British and Iberian America – an idea about the way people should govern themselves. Some people make the mistake of calling that idea 'democracy' and imagining that any country can adopt it merely by holding elections. In reality, democracy was the capstone of an edifice that had as its foundation the rule of law – to be precise, the sanctity of individual freedom and the security of private property rights, ensured by representative, constitutional government. ~ Niall Ferguson

The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived. ~ James Madison

It is a remarkable fact in the political history of man that there is scarcely an instance of a free constitutional government which has been the work exclusively of foresight and wisdom. They have all been the result of a fortunate combination of circumstances. ~ John C. Calhoun

The perversions are as follows: of royalty, tyranny; of aristocracy, oligarchy; of constitutional government, democracy. ~ Aristotle.

Judicial review has been a part of our democracy in this constitutional government for over 200 years. ~ Ron Kind

English political sagacity is compounded of instinctive reactions to immediate situations and a wisdom, gained by cumulative experience, which guides instinct through the complexities, intricacies and imponderabilities of modern politics. The most typical social philosopher of England is not John Locke but Edmund Burke. Constitutional government may have found its first justification in the rationally elaborated theories of "rights" in the philosophy of the former. But the actual history of constitutionalism in England has been dominated by the logic expressed in the philosophy of the latter. The Englishman trusts not in the abstract "natural rights" dictated by reason, but the "English rights" which are guaranteed to him by his own history. ~ Reinhold Neibuhr

The freedom enjoyed in Western society under the rule of law and constitutional government explains both the quality of its civilization and its wealth. ~ Paul Johnson

Today the path of total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government - a bureaucratic elite. ~ William E. Jenner

The growth of modern constitutional government compels for its successful practice the exercise of reason and considerate judgment by the individual citizens who constitute the electorate. ~ Elihu Root

No matter how many pro-freedom politicians we elect to office, the only way to guarantee constitutional government is through an educated and activist public devoted to the ideals of liberty. ~ Ron Paul

America posed a deeply interesting question to any Frenchmen with a political curiosity to ask it. How had Americans launched a revolution that aimed at establishing a free, stable, and constitutional government and made a success of it, while the French had in forty-one years lurched from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, to the declaration of the republic, to mob rule, the Terror, the mass murder, and thence to a conservative republic, Napoleonic autocracy, the Bourbon restoration, further revolution, and the installation of an Orleanist constitutional monarchy? ~ Alan Ryan

The government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and major social transformations to attain the system of constitutional government and its respect for the freedoms and individual rights, we hold as fundamental today. ~ Thurgood Marshall

If these precedents are to stand unimpeached, and to provide sanctions for the continued conduct of America affairs-the Constitution may be nullified by the President and officers who have taken the oath and are under moral obligation to uphold it ... they may substitute personal and arbitrary government-the first principle of the totalitarian system against which it has been alleged that World War II was waged-while giving lip service to the principle of constitutional government. ~ Charles A. Beard

It is ... particularly true of constitutional government that its atmosphere is opinion ... It does not remain fixed in any unchanging form, but grows with the growth and is altered with the change of the nation's needs and purposes. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Nothing is more important in the preservation of peace than to secure among the great mass of the people living under constitutional government a just conception of the rights which their nation has against others and of the duties their nation owes to others. ~ Elihu Root

If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate. ~ Siraj Wahhaj

Even if a government can be constitutional without being democratic, it cannot be democratic without being constitutional. ~ Clinton Rossiter

You can't have it both ways. You can't tell me that you're taxed enough already, and that you want constitutional government and then in the next breath say, 'Bring me home some bacon.' The pig has been picked clean. ~ Rand Paul

The aim of constitutional government is to preserve the Republic; that of revolutionary government is to lay its foundation. ~ Maximilien Robespierre

To measure the worthiness of an issue or political leader:
First, is the proposal, the policy or the idea being promoted, right as measured by the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Second, is it right as measured by the Lord's standard of constitutional government? ... The Lord's standard is a safe guide.
Third, ... is it right as measured by the counsel of the living oracles of God?
Fourth, what will be the effect upon the moral and the character of the people if this or that policy is adopted? ~ Ezra Taft Benson

For liberalism is a delicate thing. It encompasses so much
constitutional government, democratic elections, freedom of worship, civil rights, free trade
that we think of it as timeless and universal. But liberalism came into being in a real place and time, like a flame it has wavered in various eras, and it can be snuffed out. ~ Russell Shorto

Progressives did not like the antiquated thinking that saw the Constitution as a barrier to government expansion. The "living Constitution" was born. That benign-sounding phrase (coined later) was conjured up to justify changing the Constitution, without formal amendment, from a limit on power to a blank check. What was impermissible to the federal government by an earlier interpretation became permissible once the Constitution was construed as a evolving document. But by that philosophy, the Constitution is no limit on government power at all. A constitutional government that defines its own powers is a contradiction in terms. ~ Sheldon Richman

Let us teach our people again to be proud that they are Filipinos. Let us teach them to realize anew that being a Filipino means having as rich and noble a heritage of language, culture, patriotism and heroic deeds as any nation on earth. Let us teach a steadfast faith in Divine Providence, a stable family institution, the unhampered enjoyment of civil liberties, the advantages of constitutional government, the potentials of a rich and spacious land. ~ Carlos P. Romulo

I would say that in this world, the greatest source of inequality has been special privileges granted by government. ~ Milton Friedman

The primary object of non-co-operation is nowhere stated to be paralysis of the Government. The primary object is self-purification. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

We do need a system, and we do need you and your 'Bertos, and sometimes we need Sam to just come along and kick some ass. - Quinn ~ Michael Grant

Personally, I believe that government, rather than money, tends to be the primary factor limiting the development of new technologies. ~ Charles Platt

There is nothing government can give you that it hasn't taken from you in the first place. ~ Winston Churchill

Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom. ~ Ludwig Von Mises

I think the federal government really should be supporting Louisiana and ensuring that every person from that area has an opportunity to vote on what will occur in the area. ~ Stephanie Tubbs Jones

The CEOs of every major Wall Street firm were also on the wrong end of the gamble. All of them, without exception, either ran their public corporations into bankruptcy or were saved from bankruptcy by the United States government. They all got rich, too. ~ Michael Lewis

When we do not understand something, a common reaction is to fear it. In government, this is the usual, and encouraged, reaction. The reaction to the gig economy has been no different, and this growing fear has unfortunately turned into a legislative bloodbath. ~ John McAfee

I'm eternally grateful to fate and the citizens of Russia that they've trusted me to be the head of the Russian government. ~ Vladimir Putin

In all sorts of government man is made to believe himself free, and to be in chains. ~ Stanislaw Leszczynski

Seditious libel is the doctrine that flourished in England during and after the Star Chamber. It is the hallmark of closed societies throughout the world. Under it, criticism of government is viewed as defamation and punished as a crime. ~ Harry Kalven

We don't want the efficiency of the federal government and the compassion of the IRS to run our health care. ~ Todd Akin

Democracy ... .[is not] ... simply a form of government but an organizing principle that bundles individual freedoms, Christianity, and capitalism into a marketable product carrying with it the unexamined promise of wealth and prosperity. ~ Thomas King

I was critical of the Israeli government, however, for not being prepared for the move. One does not uproot thousands of people without planning in advance what will be done with them. This was a political and human error in which the government functioned poorly. ~ Norman Lamm

I don't believe in the Constitution because I'm American, I'm American because I believe in the Constitution. ~ J.S.B. Morse

The other dynamic keeping the stock market up - both for technology stocks and others - is that companies are using a lot of their income for stock buybacks and to pay out higher dividends, not make new investment,. So to the extent that companies use financial engineering rather than industrial engineering to increase the price of their stock you're going to have a bubble. But it's not considered a bubble, because the government is behind it, and it hasn't burst yet. ~ Michael Hudson

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself ~ Michel De Montaigne

If you work for the federal government, the average salary is $7,000 higher than the private sector. Something's wrong with that, when you're making more money working for the government than you can working in the private sector. ~ Jesse Ventura

Should We consent to an order of Cincinnati consisting of all the Officers of the Army & Citizens of Consiquence in the united States; how easy the Transition from a Republican to any other Form of Government, however despotic! & how rediculous to exchange a british Administration, for one that would be equally tyrannical, perhaps much more so? this project may answer the End of Courts that aim at making Us subservient to their political purposes, but can never be consistent with the Dignity or Happiness of the united States. ~ Elbridge Gerry

You think he's got 'government badass' tattooed on his chest?" I murmured.
A faint grimace skewed Luther's mouth. "And 'I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you' on his ass. ~ Ilona Andrews

If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National. ~ George Will

Politicians are interested in the health of the people like predators savor live prey. ~ A.E. Samaan

With respect to drugs, you know, there are a lot of organizations, including an enormous budget and an army at the federal government level that tries to deal with the drug problem. ~ Burke Marshall

If you want to cut down a tree, it is no use to climb into its branches. ~ Vinoba Bhave

Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government. ~ Jeremy Bentham

In the United States I saw how the market liberates the individual and allows people to be free to make personal choices. But the biggest drawback was that the market always pushes things to the side of the powerful. I thought the poor should be able to take advantage of the system in order to improve their lot.
Grameen is a private-sector self-help bank, and as its members gain personal wealth they acquire water-pumps, latrines, housing, education, access to health care, and so on.
Another way to achieve this is to let abusiness earn profit that is then txed by the government, and the tax can be used to provide services to the poor. But in practice it never works that way. In real life, taxes only pay for a government bureaucracy that collects the tax and provides little or nothing to the poor. And since most government bureaucracies are not profit motivated, they have little incentive to increase their efficiency. In fact, they have a disincentive: governments often cannot cut social services without a public outcry, so the behemoth continues, blind and inefficient, year after year. ~ Muhammad Yunus

It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta, to limit the extent to which an aggressive and hostile federal government can encroach upon legitimate provincial jurisdiction. ~ Stephen Harper

Brutally put, it makes little philosophical sense for the elected representatives of a government that is subordinate to the people to be able to disarm those people. As an enlightened state may by no means act as the arbiter of its critics' words, it may not remove from the people the basic rights that are recognized in the very document to which it owes its existence. "Shall not be infringed" and "shall make no law" are clear enough even for the postmodern age. To ask, "Why do you need an AR-15?" is to invert the relationship. A better question: "Why don't you want me to have one? ~ Charles C.W. Cooke

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true, and, in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. ~ George Washington

I believe the relationship you have with your government is not so different to a love relationship. ~ Jill Scott

People do not expect to find chastity in a whorehouse. Why, then, do they expect to find honesty and humanity in government, a congeries of institutions whose modus operandi consists of lying, cheating, stealing, and if need be, murdering those who resist? ~ H.L. Mencken

The phenomenon of home schooling is a wonderful example of the American can-do attitude. Growing numbers of parents have become disenchanted with government-run public schools. Many parents have simply taken matters into their own hands, literally. ~ Steve Forbes

For me planting a tree is a very doable thing. It's not complicated, it doesn't require technology, it doesn't require much knowledge, but it can be a very important entry point into communities understanding how they destroy their own resources, but how they can also restore those resources, and not wait for their government or international agencies to come and help them. ~ Wangari Maathai

I want to say that further you are not a great chief of this country. That you have no following, no power, no control." Logan continued, "You are on an Indian reservation merely at the sufferance of the government. You are fed by the government, clothed by the government, your children are educated by the government, and all you have and are today is because of the government. If it were not for the government you would be freezing and starving today in the mountains. I merely say these things to notify you that you cannot insult the people of the United States of America or its committees ... the government feeds and clothes and educates your children now, and desires to teach you to become farmers, and to civilize you, and make you as white men.
-Senator John Logan, 1883 ~ Dee Brown

For me popular violence is as much an obstruction in our path as the Government violence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

We have seen the results of unrestrained greed, corruption, and manipulation on Wall Street, financial mismanagement in the halls of government, fraud and perversion at the highest levels of both church and state. Many people sense the possibility of an even greater unraveling in the world. We are constantly confronted by the realities of new problems in this age of crisis. ~ Billy Graham

You have all these people in the city and everything has become centralized. If you live outside the city and you need a birth certificate or some official paper from the government, you have to travel to the city. ~ Edwidge Danticat

Fraud, robbery, and murder have characterized the English usurpation of the government of our country. Why, for the last fifty years we have been robbed in the matter of taxes of hundreds of millions. ~ John Edward Redmond

I farther assure this noble Duke, that I neither encouraged nor provoked that worthy citizen to seek for plenty, liberty, safety, justice or lenity, in the famine, in the prisons, in the decrees of convention, in the revolutionary tribunal, and in the guillotine of Paris, rather than quietly to take up with what he could find in the glutted markets, the unbarricadoed streets, the drowsy Old Bailey judges, or, at worst, the airy, wholesome pillory of Old England. The choice of country was his own taste. The writings were the effects of his own zeal. In spite of his friend Dr. Priestley, he was a free agent. I admit, indeed, that my praises of the British government loaded with all its encumbrances; clogged with its peers and its beef; its parsons and its pudding; its Commons and its beer; and its dull slavish liberty of going about just as one pleases, had something to provoke a Jockey of Norfolk [Thomas Paine], who was inspired with the resolute ambition of becoming a citizen of France, to do something which might render him worthy of naturalization in that grand asylum of persecuted merit. ~ Edmund Burke

Now let's get talking: reefer madness. Like some arrogant government can't, By any stretch of the imagination, outlaw a plant. ~ Ani DiFranco

Why do people look to the government to fix the economy? It's mind-boggling. ~ Ziad K. Abdelnour

Capital in the hands of a national government forms a part of the gross national capital. ~ Jean-Baptiste Say

I suspect it's because Truman Democrats have been replaced by Gruber Democrats - self-styled elitists who feed lavishly at the public trough and think government should serve them, not the hoi polloi they disdain and deceive. ~ Jack Kelly

For me, liberals are people who seek to use government to promote the general welfare. ~ Douglas Massey