Political Quotes

“Mr. President, there is no doubt that the election we have just been through was a bad one. Emotions ran high on both sides and are still running. But this is hardly the first time it has happened in our history, and it won't be the last. Take the election of 1800, for example. The campaign between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was no picnic either. It was emotional, hard fought, and full of partisan attacks. Each side alleged that the other would bring about ruin to our young Nation. In his novel address, the new President, Thomas Jefferson, specifically referenced the contentious process that the Nation had just gone through, but then he said the following: ``[B]ut this [meaning the election] being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good.'' Let me repeat that: ``all will . . . arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good.'' That is the key. That is what separates our Nation from tyrannies and other oppressive forms of government. In the United States, we may have contentious elections. But at the end of the day, we accept the results, and we move forward for the common good. That doesn't mean we give up fighting for what we believe in, of course, but we fight within the law, not outside of it.…”