Surely anyone who has ever been elected to public office understands that one commodity above all others, namely the trust and confidence of the people, is fundamental in maintaining a free and open political system.
Interpretation
Trust is essential for an effective political system.
This quote emphasizes the importance of gaining and maintaining public trust for anyone in a position of political power. Hubert H. Humphrey highlights that without the trust and confidence of the electorate, the foundations of democracy become unstable, making it crucial for elected officials to prioritize the expectations and faith of the citizens they serve.
In practice
During a town hall meeting to discuss local issues.
It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
Much of our American progress has been the product of the individual who had an idea; pursued it; fashioned it; tenaciously clung to it against all odds; and then produced it, sold it, and profited from it.
We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit.
You cannot go around and keep score. If you keep score on the good things and the bad things, you'll find out that you're a very miserable person. God gave man the ability to forget, which is one of the greatest attributes you have. Because if you remember everything that's happened to you, you generally remember that which is the most unfortunate.
Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.
The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many.
The power of the State must be invoked for restoring economic freedom just as it has been invoked for destroying economic freedom.
I wish it were simply a nightmare, but I think that any reasonable person watching American politics would come to the conclusion that a second Bush administration would in fact incorporate a more radicalized version of what we've seen in the first administration.
By their subjugation of the press, the political powers in America have conferred on themselves the greatest of political blessings -- Gyges' ring of invisibility. And they have left the American people more deeply baffled by their own country's politics than any people on earth. Our public realm lies steeped in twilight, and we call that twilight news.'
War expands government powers. The trouble is that, when the war goes away, the government powers do not.
A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. It condemns the citizen to servitude.
Let us wage a moral and political war against war itself, so that we can cut military spending and use that money for human needs.
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