Political Quotes

“Mr. President, no one disputes the vital importance of our national security. Indeed, in Federalist No. 41, James Madison noted that ``[s]ecurity against foreign danger is one of the primitive objects of civil society,'' and he emphasized that such security ``is an avowed and essential object of the American Union.'' Government officials have a solemn duty, particularly in the age of global terrorism, to help ensure that the American people are safe and secure. Yet at the same time, the government also exists to do a lot more than just promote security. Its most fundamental purpose is to protect our natural and inalienable liberties. Safeguarding individual rights and liberties is the bedrock of American Government. In the words of our Nation's founding document, the Declaration of Independence, it is ``to secure these rights [that] Governments are instituted among Men.'' In our quest for ever-greater security, we must be mindful not to sacrifice the very rights and liberties that make our safety valuable. As Benjamin Franklin put it, ``Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.'' I worry that in seeking to achieve temporary safety, some of the authorities we have given the government under FISA may compromise essential rights and liberties.…”