The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights.
Interpretation
A nation's citizens are responsible for protecting their own freedoms and rights.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the fundamental belief in democracy that the citizens hold the authority and responsibility to safeguard their own rights and liberties. It suggests that the power and responsibility for rights does not rest solely with leaders or governments, but rather with the people, who must actively participate in their preservation and defense.
In practice
This quote can be used during a civic education class to inspire students to be active in their communities.
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.
If you woke up this morning and you are breathing, and you are Muslim, then you are political. You have no choice but to be political in a country that has politicized you and politicized your religion.
Hamas is a terror organization with a covenant that speaks about the elimination of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. They are not partners for negotiations.
I do not diminish the incredible symbolic importance of a black man getting elected president. But my euphoria was a smart guy getting elected president. Maybe for the first time in my lifetime we had elected one of the thousand smartest Americans president.
Much of political decision-making concentrates power in the hands of those already inside the circle, who tend to be men. Excluding women may not be the intention, but when they are not invited into the room where decisions are made, you can see how it happens.
Since Israel is a democratic state surrounded by essentially undemocratic states which have sworn her destruction, those interested in democracy everywhere must support Israel's existence.
Ours is a fully democratic government, which in our language we call a people's government.
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