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.
The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.
We have to repair our country's infrastructure, but we also have to protect and repair the infrastructure of our democracy. It's not either or, it's both and.
Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.
The sanctions will not kill us. It's apartheid that's killing us.
A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
Let there be an end to the arrogance of the big powers who miss no opportunity to put the rights of the people in question. Africa's absence from the club of those who have the right to veto is unjust and should be ended.
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