Joseph de Maistre Quotes

Every country has the government it deserves.

In a democracy, people usually get the kind of government they deserve, and they deserve what they get.

But in the end our government usually - not unfailingly - is responsive to the people; and usually - not always - will try to do what is right.

The government serves the people - not vice-versa.

... we, the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve.

Government is not guaranteed to work right.

We are a democracy, and we get the leaders we deserve because we elect them.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Many Americans do not understand that the officers of the government are simply the servants of the people.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

Congress, even with its frustrations, is the greatest instrument for justice and human welfare in the world.

The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.

Government loses its claim to legitimacy when it fails to fulfill its obligations.

Voters will decide how they want to be governed.

A government of, for and by the people, requires much from the people.

I believe that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

The whole idea of a democracy is that we ourselves, the people, are supposed to make a path of our politics, and it is we who with our feet and our vote and our labors and our vigilance are supposed to shape our country.

I still have a great deal of faith in our political system and a great deal of faith in the American people and voter.

Here's to democracy. May we get the government we deserve.

We create our own government. We are responsible for its beauty and for its ugliness. We are responsible for its glories and for its failures and, most important, we are responsible for amending those failures no matter who are their most immediate architects.

What's hard, it seems, is living up to the expectations Democracy imposes upon those who would participate in society.

It is the healthiest thing in a democracy when the people who are elected exert power.

Democracy means not merely, I had almost said not so much, the rights of the whole people, as the duties of the whole people.

If the people be governors, who shall be governed?

We as citizens should hold our government accountable for word and deed.