The Deterioration of Government

The deterioration of every government begins with
the decay of the principles on which it was founded
~Charles-Louis de Secondat

“The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.” —Alexander Hamilton (1787)

• “Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government.” ~George Washington (1796)

• “At no time, at no place, in solemn convention assembled, through no chosen agents, had the American people officially proclaimed the United States to be a democracy. The Constitution did not contain the word or any word lending countenance to it, except possibly the mention of “We, the people,” in the preamble…. When the Constitution was framed no respectable person called himself or herself a democrat. ~Charles Austin Beard and Mary Ritter Beard, America in Midpassage 1939

 

“In every battalion, and in every ship’s crew, you will find every kind of American citizen representing every occupation, every section, every origin, every religion, and every political viewpoint. Ask them what they are fighting for, and every one of them will say, ‘I am fighting for MY COUNTRY.'” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 12, 1943

 

“The Founding Fathers … recognizing God as the author of individual rights, declared that the purpose of Government is to secure those rights . . . But in many lands the State claims to be the author of human rights . . . If the State gives rights, it can – and inevitably will – take away those rights.

 

“Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first – the most basic – expression of Americanism.” ~President Dwight Eisenhower, February 20, 1955

“The mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain.” ~James Madison (1788)

• “Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act.” ~Thomas Jefferson (1785)

“It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth — and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.” —Patrick Henry (1775)

• “The crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights, or submit to every imposition, that can be heaped upon us, till custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves.” —George Washington (1774)

 

• “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” ~Alexander Hamilton (1775)