pokey" over @ fox assembled some good quotes:
The United States constitution founded this land as a Republic, NOT a democracy.
John Adams:
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.â€
“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.â€
“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.â€
“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.â€
Ben Franklin:
â€Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.â€
“As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.â€
â€Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.â€
George Washington:
â€If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.â€
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.â€
â€It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.â€
â€The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.â€
James Madison:
â€It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.â€
â€I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.â€
â€If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.â€
â€Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.â€
â€The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.â€
â€Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.â€
Samuel Adams
â€How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!â€
Thomas Jefferson
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.â€
“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.â€
"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy."
“I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.â€