If women would today would rise en masse and demand their emancipation, the men would be compelled to grant it.
Victoria WoodhullRead
I ask the rights to pursue happiness by having a voice in that government to which I am accountable.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of having a say in governance in order to pursue one's happiness.
Victoria Woodhull highlights the critical link between individual happiness and participation in government. She argues that true happiness cannot be achieved without the right to express oneself and have a voice in the political system, which shapes the societal environment in which one lives. This reflects the foundational belief in democracy that every individual should have the opportunity to influence the laws and policies that govern their lives.
In practice
In a speech advocating for civic engagement, I might use this quote to inspire others to vote.
If women would today would rise en masse and demand their emancipation, the men would be compelled to grant it.
No man who respects his mother or loves his sister, can speak disparagingly of any woman; however low she may seem to have sunk, she is still a woman. I want every man to remember this. Every woman is, or, at some time, has been a sister or daughter.
Good care is taken that each state shall have its prisons . . . and other asylums; but not one building is erected nor one law enforced that would teach the people how not to contribute to these over-crowded receptacles of human misery . . . . All of our politicians are ready to deal with the effects, but not one of them is brave enough to penetrate the substratum of society and deal with the cause.
Suffrage is a common right of citizenship. Women have the right of suffrage. Logically it cannot be escaped.
Denounce me for advocating freedom if you can, and I will bear your curse with a better resignation.
Rude contact with facts chased my visions and dreams quickly away, and in their stead I beheld the horrors, the corruption, the evils and hypocrisy of society, and as I stood among them, a young wife, a great wail of agony went out from my soul.
The peoples of many countries are being taxed to the point of poverty and starvation in order to enable Governments to engage in a mad race in armament which, if permitted to continue, may well result in war. This grave menace to the peace of the world is due in no small measure to the uncontrolled activities of the manufacturers and merchants of engines of destruction, and it it must be met by the concerted actions of the peoples of all Nations.
Lifting the veil of secrecy that shrouds police misconduct allegations would seem like an obvious democratic value. After all, if police work for the people, should they not be answerable to the people, as well? This is a basic tenet of good government.
No matter where I go - London, Beirut, Jerusalem, Washington, Beijing, or Bangalore - I'm always looking to rediscover that land of ten thousand lakes where politics actually worked to make people's lives better, not pull them apart.
I am not political. It is not my job. But I would be happy if politicians could read my work and draw some conclusions from it.
When Rumsfeld gets up on television and says we have definitive intelligence that al Qaeda is working with Iraq, how is an ordinary citizen supposed to react? They won't tell you the evidence, and when anyone asks, they say, 'Well, you know: It's secret.'
Great powers can't get tired, because the international order is not self-governing.
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