Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust.
Interpretation
Democracy requires citizen oversight to prevent the abuse of power by government officials.
This quote underscores the essential role of the public in maintaining a check on government authority. Without active participation and vigilance, those in power may act against the interests of the people, consolidating power and wealth for themselves and their families, rather than serving the common good.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of voting and civic engagement.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
βWe must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
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.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
These political movements flourish on the margins of Turkish society because of poverty and because of the people's feeling that they are not being represented.
Make sure your son and daughter understands they don't get to decide when or where they go to war. It is rich, predominantly white men in the House and Senate that have the power to send children of other parents - but not their own children - off to die [and] be injured in a senseless war.
You realize that for all the shenanigans that go on in the big circus of politics, everybody wakes up and goes to work.
When the only people in mainstream discourse who care about the working class are Wall Street investors, it really is time to ask where our politics went wrong.
The press is supposed to serve as a check on government.
The right to vote is the easiest of all rights to grant.
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