The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
Interpretation
Good government prioritizes the well-being of its citizens over any form of destruction.
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes that the primary responsibility of a government is to care for the lives and happiness of its people. This indicates that governance should aim to enhance the quality of life rather than bring harm, highlighting the moral obligation that leaders have to prioritize the welfare of the population they serve.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about effective governance.
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.
It's hard to overstate the lasting harm Mr. Tillerson's tenure will do to America's diplomacy.
Would they not fear that citizens not less tenacious than conscious of their rights would flock from the remotest extremes of their respective states to the places of election, to overthrow their tyrants, and to substitute men who would be disposed to avenge the violated majesty of the people?
All politics takes place on a slippery slope. The most important four words in politics are up to a point.
Great powers can't get tired, because the international order is not self-governing.
Everything would be alright if everything was put back in the hands of the people, and we're going to have to put it back in the hands of the people.
With Yeltsin, the Soviet Union broke apart, the country was totally mismanaged, the constitution was not respected by the regions of Russia. The army, education and health systems collapsed. People in the West quietly applauded, dancing with and around Yeltsin. I conclude therefore that we should not pay too much attention to what the West is saying.
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