I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.
James MadisonRead
To provide employment for the poor, and support for the indigent, is among the primary, and, at the same time, not least difficult cares of the public authority.
Interpretation
The government's responsibility includes providing jobs and support for those in need, which is a challenging but important task.
In this quote, James Madison emphasizes the significant role of public authority in addressing poverty and unemployment. He suggests that providing employment opportunities for the poor and support for the indigent is a fundamental duty of the government, acknowledging the complexity and difficulty of this responsibility.
In practice
During a town hall meeting discussing community development programs.
I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.
No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.
The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.
It is hard to prevent oneself from believing what one so keenly desires.
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.
The American grips himself, at the very sources of his consciousness, in a grip of care: and then, to so much of the rest of life, is indifferent. Whereas, the European hasn't got so much care in him, so he cares much more for life and living.
Any religion is forever in danger of petrifaction into mere ritual and habit, though ritual and habit be essential to religion.
Be famous. Be a big social experiment in getting what you don't want. Find value in what we've been taught is worthless. Find good in what the world says is evil. I'm giving you my life because I want the whole world to know you. I wish the whole world would embrace what it hates. Find what you're afraid of most and go live there.
Only now is the child finally divested of all that he has been. His origins are become remote as is his destiny and not again in all the world's turning will there be terrains so wild and barbarous to try whether the stuff of creation may be shaped to man's will or whether his own heart is not another kind of clay.
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