The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought.
Interpretation
Decisions made by the government should be based on careful consideration rather than on fleeting emotions.
Martin Van Buren's quote emphasizes the importance of rational and thoughtful decision-making in governance. It suggests that leaders should not be swayed by short-term enthusiasm or public sentiment but should take a step back to analyze situations critically for better long-term outcomes.
In practice
In a political debate, to argue for careful policy-making, one might cite this quote.
To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences, I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly with the constitutional authority of the Federal Government.
In time of peace there can, at all events, be no justification for the creation of a permanent debt by the Federal Government. Its limited range of constitutional duties may certainly under such circumstances be performed without such a resort.
It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.
The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity.
Those who have wrought great changes in the world never succeeded by gaining over chiefs; but always by exciting the multitude. The first is the resource of intrigue and produces only secondary results, the second is the resort of genius and transforms the universe.
I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men, whose superiors it is our happiness to believe are not found on the executive calendar of any country.
The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.
The atrocities in Cambodia are a direct and understandable response to the violence of the imperial system.
If voting could actually change anything, it would be illegal.
It is an axiom of political science in the United States that the sole means of neutralizing the effects of newspapers is to multiply their number.
Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion,and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who's hitting you? It's about time that the people of America realized what the Republicans have been doing to them.
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