On the record
It cannot be admitted, because it is a perversion of the fundamental principle, that every power given for the protection of the people below should be responsible to the power above.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Burke argues that power should be accountable to those it protects, emphasizing the importance of responsibility in governance.
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Ill would our ancestors at the Revolution have deserved their fame for wisdom, if they had found no security for their freedom, but in rendering their government feeble in its operations and precarious in its tenure,--if they had been able…
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