Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
Grover ClevelandRead
Party honesty is party expediency.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that political honesty is often sacrificed for practical benefits.
Grover Cleveland's quote points to the idea that, in politics, individuals often prioritize expediency and advantage over genuine honesty. It implies that political actions may be driven more by the desire for practical outcomes—which may not align with true integrity—rather than adhering strictly to ethical principles. This highlights a common tension within political discourse where moral integrity and practical decision-making may conflict.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a political debate to emphasize the importance of integrity.
Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
Unswerving loyalty to duty, constant devotion to truth, and a clear conscience will overcome every discouragement and surely lead the way to usefulness and high achievement.
Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.
Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, exercises a public trust.
It is the responsibility of the citizens to support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to support its citizens.
Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.
We are the most powerful nation on earth. No external power, no terrorist organization can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire.
Being political is an integral part of being Iranian. Our lives are defined by politics.
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If a British government experienced such a long and persistent resistance to domestic policy in England, then that policy would almost certainly be changed... We have asserted that we are political prisoners, and everything about out country - our arrests, interrogations, trials, and prison conditions - show that we are politically motivated.
Why is the Keystone Pipeline the very first, #1 item on the Republicans' agenda? We know that this pipeline runs terrible environmental risks and it just won't do much for the American people. So why is this bill so urgent? Money and power.
American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of demagoguery.
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