Constitutionalism Quotes

The Constitution of the United States, with its elaborate checks and balances, clearly reflected the view that no one was ever to be completely trusted with power. This was in sharp contrast to the French Revolution, which gave sweeping powers, including the power of life and death, to those who spoke in the name of “the people,” expressing the Rousseauean “general will.” Even when bitterly disappointed with particular leaders, who were then deposed and executed, believers in this vision did not substantially change their political systems or beliefs, viewing the evil as localized in individuals who had betrayed the revolution…To the Federalists, the evil was inherent in man, and institutions were simply ways of trying to cope with it.

If you accept that conservatism equals constitutionalism - and I do - well, then, where do we start? We do we start reinstituting all of these values, the morality in the culture, in our society; the respect for rule of law. And then you look at what we're up against, an entire Democrat Party.

Our founders recognized that 'men were not angels' and that checks and balances in government were critical to avoid threats to the rule of law.

But the king should not be under any man, only under God and the law, for the law makes the king. Let the king therefore attribute to the law what the law attributes to him, namely lordship and power, for there is no king where will rules and not the law.

I have two basic votes before I vote: is it constitutional, and is it in the interests of my people. If the answer is yes to both of them, then I vote for it, and I don't care who authored it.

Where the laws are not supreme, there demagogues spring up.

One stands, in fact, in awe of the Constitution of the United States, though it is an idea and not quite a reality.

Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.

History suggests that the main obstacles facing Muslims in their attempts to achieve open political systems and democratic governments are 1) a deeply rooted authoritarian political culture, and 2) manipulated interpretations of the Koran.

The rights of man as the foundation of just Government had been long understood but the superstructures projected had been sadly defective

David Addington does not believe in the Constitution

Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.

Our country, if you read the 'Federalist Papers,' is about disagreement. It's about pitting faction against faction, divided government, checks and balances. The hero in American political tradition is the man who stands up to the mob - not the mob itself.

Polities need written constitutions for two reasons -- either to link constituent units in a federal system or to republicanize absolutism

We are in desperate need of a return to limited, constitutional government.

I am a constitutionalist. I believe in the constitution. I don't believe in altering the constitution.

We believe in humility and integrity, the spirit of one people, bound together under God. We understand that the Constitution was written to control and regulate the government, not the people.

I am a true constitutionalist, and whether it is our state's rights, personal property rights or the right to bear arms, the federal government will know if they come to Michigan trying to trample our rights, it will have a fight on its hands under a Bouchard administration.

Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them.

Tinkers may work, quacks may prescribe, and demagogues may deceive, but I declare to you that there is no remedy for us ... but in adhering to the Constitution.

I believe in the Constitution.

In what other democracy is the President in charge of the executive and the legislature and the judiciary?

The law is king. The king is not the law.

I don't believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it.

China is on a march toward rule of law and democracy.