If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate were, in effect, breaking into the home of every citizen.
Interpretation
The Watergate scandal involved a breach of trust that affected all citizens, not just the targeted entity.
In this quote, Sam Ervin emphasizes the profound implications of the Watergate break-in, suggesting that it was not merely an attack on the Democratic National Committee, but an infringement on the democratic rights and security of all American citizens. The breach of political sanctity resonates deeply with the public, reflecting a violation of trust that extends beyond politics to the core of civic life.
In practice
In a discussion about government transparency, this quote serves to highlight the importance of accountability.
The working classes in every country only learn to fight in the course of their struggles...Social democracy...is only the advance guard of the proletariat, a small piece of the total working masses; blood from their blood, and flesh from their flesh. Social democracy seeks and finds the ways, and particular slogans, of the workers' struggle only in the course of the development of this struggle, and gains directions for the way forward through this struggle alone.
Romania, which had the worst dictator in Eastern Europe, Ceausescu, he was a darling of the West. The United States and Britain loved him. He was supported until the last minute.
These examples, though as unfit for the imitation, as they are repugnant to the genius of America, are notwithstanding . . . very instructive proofs of the necessity of some institution that will blend stability with liberty.
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
In the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery.
Press Freedom will never be under threat in South Africa for as long as the ANC is the majority party
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