Charles E. Schumer Quotes

Left to me, the whole purpose of government is for the security of the citizens, like the security of lives and property.

The government's only functions are to protect the rights of the individual; therefore, you need a police force and an army.

The job of the government isn't to go around and try and make people sacrifice, it's to try and make people free. The reason why we have a national defense is to protect our freedoms.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.

It is the obligation of every government to yield protection to their citizens as the consideration for their obedience

As one of the principal responsibilities of the government is to safeguard its citizens, it is entirely reasonable that it should look at what more might be done to improve security.

Safety and security are the most basic job of government. I understand that - both as a mayor who works every day to secure public safety and reduce crime, and also as someone who deployed in uniform to Afghanistan because I believed joining the military was part of my duty to help keep my country safe.

The duty imposed upon him [the president] to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.' The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence or defense; for the redress of grievances or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people.

The fundamental purpose of government is to protect its citizens.

If your basic premise about the fundamental purpose of our government is that it must provide for the common defense, then no other position is possible.

When I say, 'I am supporting the police or the army,' I am talking about the army in general and the police in general. In general, those institutions are good institutions.

I believe the job of the FBI Director is to be as transparent as possible with the American people because we work for them.

The U.K. government has a responsibility to keep secrets in some circumstances. It also has a responsibility not to abuse that power for other purposes.

Obama is trying to paint us as a caricature, as if we're some bizarre individualists who are hardcore libertarians. It's a false dichotomy and intellectually lazy. Of course we believe in government. We think government should do what it does really well, but that it has limits.

We need a Federal government that does what the government needs to do and stops doing what the government ought not to be doing.

The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people.

The federal government is doing less than it is lawfully entitled to do to protect New York City, and the City is less safe as a result.

A fundamental duty of government is to protect its people.

It is the government's fundamental duty to ensure the security of every individual citizen.

We have no more fundamental obligation in government than to ensure the safety of our citizens.

One of the things government should be around for is to deal with catastrophes. It should do that well. To me, that's a government function, and we shouldn't be playing political games with it.

People want a grounded government. They want a government that's going to be responsible to them.

I have a responsibility as an elected governor to govern and when I say govern, that means to make sure that our citizens are safe and we need the federal government to step up and do their job. They need to secure our borders.

Can we understand - just for the record, we do need the government for a lot of big ticket items.

Well the first order of government is to preserve the public order and safety.