The people are responsible for the character of their Congress.
Interpretation
Citizens play a crucial role in shaping the moral and ethical standards of their elected representatives.
James A. Garfield's quote emphasizes the idea that the quality and character of a nation's legislative body, in this case, Congress, directly reflect the values, choices, and actions of its citizens. It suggests that if the people desire integrity and virtue in their leaders, they must take responsibility for their own conduct in order to elect representatives who embody those qualities.
In practice
In a speech about civic duty at a local town hall meeting.
Statistical science is indispensable to modern statesmanship. In legislation as in physical science it is beginning to be understood that we can control terrestrial forces only by obeying their laws. The legislator must formulate in his statutes not only the national will, but also those great laws of social life revealed by statistics.
I am trying to do two things: dare to be a radical and not a fool, which is a matter of no small difficulty.
Justice and goodwill will outlast passion.
Now more than ever 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.
If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it's the best possible substitute for it.
Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
Israel was born under the British mandate. We learned from the British what democracy means, and how it behaves in a time of danger, war and terror. We thank Britain for introducing freedom and respect of human rights both in normal and demanding circumstances.
Controversial disputes are a part of democratic culture.
By creating an urgent crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future.
While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.
Everybody that's trying to get anything progressive done in this country knows that the biggest barrier is getting money out of politics.
Deregulation is a transfer of power from the trodden to the treading. It is unsurprising that all conservative parties claim to hate big government.
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