Quotes About Citizens

This would turn the American dream into what Plato described as a "noble lie," a belief that, though untrue, sustains civic harmony by inducing citizens to accept certain inequalities as legitimate.

and perhaps even a civil war in the US, if the citizens who own roughly 393 million weapons in their homes were to learn that private interests are in charge of the military.

A better way to mutual respect is to engage directly with the moral convictions citizens bring to public life, rather than to require that people leave their deepest moral convictions outside politics before they enter.

Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share a common life. What matters is that people of different backgrounds and social positions encounter one another, and bump up against one another, in the course of ordinary life.

on cultivating virtue upon practice] Rousseau held a similar view. The more a country asks of its citizens, the greater their devotion to it. "In a well-ordered city every man flies to the assemblies." Under a bad government, no one participates in public life "because no one is interested in what happens there" and "domestic cares are all-absorbing." Civic virtue is built up, not spent down, by strenuous citizenship.

Another day in Turkey without a coup goes unreported, but just try to take over that country without the world's media covering it, along with millions of smartphone-carrying citizens video recording every incident

La Géorgie et l'Arménie, sur lesquelles la Russie tente de mettre la main en distribuant à ceux qui en font la demande des passeports de la Fédération de Russie, multipliant ainsi le nombre de citoyens russes dans ces pays

Los ciudadanos que anhelaban el bien de la patria están lejos; unos piden limosna en casa ajena, otros pudren tierra en fosa común.

The profits made from the widespread dependence on illicit drugs are enriching murderers and terrorists. It seems possible that in the near future we shall be ruled by an oligarchy of former drug dealers, who are rapidly gaining wealth and power at the expense of law-abiding citizens. And in our sexual lives, by shedding the shackles of "hypocritical" morality, we have unleashed destructive viruses upon one another.

It was because the leading citizens, as well as the common people, were so seriously concerned with the outcome of their work that the artists were pushed to perform beyond their previous limits.

Not everybody has to be a striver. Canada does a very good job of trying to raise the standard of living of all its citizens. I think this is admirable and appropriate. However, those poor, tortured Canadian souls who are driven to innovate and make things, don't just have to endure the typical loneliness of genius, they also must overcome the inertia of a culture that continually asks strivers, 'Who do you think you are?

Alabama citizens, like the vast majority of Americans, respect and value the meaning of decency, and appreciate public institutions that reflect the common values of our society.

The citizens of Joplin were unwittingly being trained not to act when the sirens sounded.

Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.

Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.

Citizens come and go in desolation.

We designed both our state employee health plans and the one we created for low-income Hoosiers as Health Savings Accounts, and now in the tens of thousands these citizens are proving that they are fully capable of making smart, consumerist choices about their own health care.

If freedom's best friends cannot unify around a realistic, actionable program of fundamental change, one that attracts and persuades a broad majority of our fellow citizens, big change will not come.

And a special thank you to the citizens of Massachusetts: You are paying all the taxes, creating all the jobs, raising all the children. This government is yours. Thank you for letting me serve you. I love this job.

Yo conozco bien este país. »Los venezolanos aman su libertad y, aunque haya descontento, prefieren la democracia.

El uso legítimo de la violencia es un derecho que los ciudadanos conceden al Estado a cambio de que les dé protección, orden público y estabilidad.

As communications channels explode, citizen journalism becomes common, and opinions can be shared with millions, yesteryear's gatekeepers of polite opinion no longer have the power to keep authoritarian views out of circulation. In this brave new world, authoritarian messages have little trouble finding their way to ears primed to accept them.

Restoring trust, reinventing political parties, finding new ways in which average citizens can meaningfully participate in the political process, creating new mechanisms of effective governance, limiting the worst impacts of checks and balances while averting excessive concentrations of unaccountable power, and enhancing the capacity of nation-states to work together should be the central political goals of our time.

We may test the hypothesis that the State is largely interested in protecting itself rather than its subjects by asking: which category of crimes does the State pursue and punish most intensely — those against private citizens or those against itself?