Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
Grover ClevelandRead
Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.
Interpretation
The government should maintain a distance from dependency on its citizens, promoting self-reliance.
This quote suggests that while citizens may support their government, it is not the government's role to overly intervene or provide for the people's needs. Instead, citizens should strive for independence and self-sufficiency, relying on their own abilities and resources rather than expecting government support.
In practice
In a political debate discussing the role of government in citizens' lives.
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.
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.
The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their government, its functions do not include the support of the people.
Where I think historians can help preserve and actually restore democracy is to remind us of how we got it.
We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground.
There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
America must be the teacher of democracy, not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard.
Israel must never be expected to jeopardize her security: if she was ever foolish enough to do so, and then suffered for it, the backlash against both honest brokers and Palestinians would be immense - 'land for peace' must also bring peace.
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