Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight an underpublicized but important hearing that was held today. First of all, however, I would like to make one more time the point to my colleagues--because I recently heard one of the Senators grotesquely abusing the word--what form of government we have here today. The Senator--fortunately, it wasn't a Congressman, but sometimes they do it, too--twice, in two sentences in a row, referred to the form of government we have as a democracy. Of course, we all should know by now that we do not have a democracy. We have a Republic, and our forefathers had contempt for democracy. Alexander Hamilton said: We are a republican form of government. Liberty is never found in the extremes of democracy. John Adams: Democracy never lasts long. Benjamin Franklin, upon the completion of the U.S. Constitution: We give you a Republic if you can keep it. When we say the Pledge of Allegiance, what, again, do we say? We pledge allegiance to the flag and the Republic for which it stands. Nevertheless, again and again around here, people misspeak and, I am afraid, miseducate the younger generation into thinking we have a democracy. Why did our forefathers not like a democracy? Our Republic under our Constitution is designed to keep limited government and, therefore, liberty in the United States. Democracy, or representative democracy, means a majority of people are free to take property from anybody in here or take freedoms from anybody in here.…”