We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection
Samuel AdamsRead
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote...that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
Interpretation
Voting is a serious responsibility that holds moral and civic accountability.
This quote emphasizes the gravity of the act of voting, suggesting that each citizen should recognize the significant responsibility they bear when casting their vote. It implies that voting is not merely a civic duty but a solemn trust, one that individuals owe not only to their nation but also to a higher moral standard or divinity, reinforcing the importance of conscious decision-making in democratic participation.
In practice
During a civic engagement workshop emphasizing the importance of voting.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection
Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters.
If taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the character of free subjects to the miserable state of tributary slaves? We claim British rights not by charter only! We are born to them.
Let no man thirst for good beer.
He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.
We boast of our freedom, and we have your example for it. We talk the language we have always heard you speak.
Politics is who gets what, when, how.
If we let Korea down, the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another.
The president - every president - works for us. We don't work for him. We sometimes lose track of this, or rather get the balance wrong. Respect is due and must be palpable, but now and then you have to press, to either force them to be forthcoming or force them to reveal that they won't be.
The foulest damage to our political life comes not from the 'secrets' which they hide from us, but from the little bits of half-truth and disinformation which they do tell us. These are already pre-digested, and then are sicked up as little gobbits of authorised spew. The columns of defense correspondents in the establishment sheets serve as the spittoons.
Politics is so personal, vicious and immediate, how are you going to get anything done? Even the local politics where I live have gotten so ugly.
A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'”
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