Voting Reminder and a couple good quotes

[Blewis11]

Its not like I have to remind anyone in this group, but Hatton Sumners once joked "many of us yet seem to feel that if we do a good job of criticizing the government, we have fully discharged our civic duty."

Remember to vote today, get involved and informed, ignore Duck Dynasty for a day and make your own decisions. Many great men in american history have given their lives so we can enjoy the freedom of self-governance. Samuel Adams (not the beer) had many amazing quotes in his various writings, but I like this one:

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote…that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."

I love historical civic duty quotes, so if you have any good ones, send em my way.

 

[cmhbob]

A few from my .sig file.

The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it. ~ Edward Dowling, 1941

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it. ~ Daniel Webster

If America forgets where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution. ~ Carl Sandburg

I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men's rights. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? ~ Thomas Jefferson (1801)

Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. . . . f the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces. ~ James Garfield

You do not examine legislation in light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

Democracy has many definitions, but "what's in it for me" is not an element of any of them. ~ Col. Jeff Cooper

No matter who you vote for, you're _still_ going to wind up with a Politician. ~ Will Rogers

The people ... erected this [federal] government. They gave it a Constitution, and in that Constitution they have enumerated the powers which they bestow on it. They have made it a limited government. They have defined its authority. They have restrained it to the exercise of such powers as are granted; and all others, they declare, are reserved to the states or the people. ~ Daniel Webster

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~ Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941)

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ~ C. S. Lewis

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. ~ Thomas Jefferson (1791)

It is a great mistake to suppose that the paper we are to propose [the Constitution] will govern the United States. It is the men whom it will bring into the government and the interest in maintaining it that is to govern them. The paper will only mark out the mode and the form. Men are the substance and must do the business. ~ John Francis Mercer

Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them . . . Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good and the government cannot be bad . . . But if men be bad, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn. ~ William Penn (Founder of Pennsylvania)

In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. . . It is alleged by men of loose principles or defective views of the subject that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. . . When a citizen gives his suffrage [vote] to a man of known immorality, he abuses his trust [civic responsibility]; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country. ~ Noah Webster

If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government that is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. ~ James Madison

If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual. ~ Frank Herbert

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations. ~ James Madison

The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office. ~ Will Rogers

Good government never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders. ~ Frank Herbert, "Children of Dune"

Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable and most sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so many of the territory as they inhabit. ~ Abraham Lincoln January 12, 1848.

There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power . . . and treats him accordingly. ~ Henry David Thoreau

 

[Werewolf]

If America forgets where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution. ~ Carl Sandburg

<Best Bart Simpson voice>
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?

<Best Homer voice>
DOH! Shutup Bart - we're almost there.