Quotes About Citizenship

This is our country, too, and we can goddam well control it if we learn to use the tools. —HST, 1969

I have not yet walked the forest trails, high meadows, snows and rocks of the Alpine Lakes area of the Cascades; even so, I do not feel myself a stranger there. Great many wild places of Earth I have not visited, and never shall be able to, but I have known some of them intimately, with delight, and thus claim citizenship of all the wild place of all the states and nations of all the continents and seas. From citizenship comes responsibility to care.

Let me say with a Georgia accent that we cannot solve this problem if it requires a diplomatic passport to claim the rights of an American citizen.

Opposition to the current ruler doesn't make one a traitor to the state

What "the public," "the workforce," "the electorate," "consumers," and "the population" all have in common is that they are brought into being by institutionalized frames of action that are inherently bureaucratic, and therefore, profoundly alienating.

Americans pride themselves on being a democratic society, but if you ask the average American "When was the last time you were part of a group of more than five people who made a collective decision on a more or less equal basis?" most will just scratch their heads.

Kingdoms rise and fall; they also strengthen and weaken; governments may make their presence known in people's lives quite sporadically, and for many people in history, it was not at all clear whose government they were actually in. Even until quite recently, many of the world's inhabitants were not quite sure of what country they were citizens, or why it should matter.

For the first time in American history citizens began to feel that the occupant of the White House was their representative. They referred to him as Father Abraham, and they showered him with homely gifts: a firkin of butter, a crate of Bartlett pears, New England salmon.

We must understand," Rustin wrote, "that our refusal to accept jim crow in specific areas challenges the entire social, political and economic order that has kept us second class citizens.… Those who oppose us, understand this.

If every American school taught the Bill of Rights in a clear and compelling way, if every child knew the fundamental rules that guide the relationships between the individual and the state, then every citizen would eventually feel the reflexive need to resist every violation. We had better begin now, for rights that are not invoked are eventually abandoned.

If you enroll as one of God's people, then heaven is your country and God your lawgiver.

It's hard to remember that Jesus did not come to make us safe, but rather to make us disciples, citizens of God's new age, a kingdom of surprise.

No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God.

You have the God-given right to kick the government around - don't hesitate to do so.

Wealthy people are just as patriotic as poor people, I honest to God believe that.

If we accept the logic of the Declaration, reverence for God is not just a matter of religious faith, it is the foundation of justice and citizenship in our republic.

Thank God, I also am an American!

I want to declare my Citizenship in the Kingdom of God and my allegiance to His Kingdom and His City!

It is a greater thing to be a good citizen than to be a good Republican or a good Democrat.

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.

Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.

Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.

Good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great.

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.