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What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Jerry Patterson, Texas Land Commissioner, said, "The 1st amendment to the U. S. Constitution enumerates the right of the people 'to petition the government for redress of grievances.' A petition with the signatures of all 19 million Texans would mean nothing without a statutory I & R mechanism in place. The legislature should pass I & R, and enact this right guaranteed by both the U. S. and the Texas constitutions."
John Talley of Longview, Texas said, "There are those occasions under our form of government when the interests of the represented and the interests of the representatives are at odds. I & R are the means by which the represented assure that their interests ultimately prevail."
Joel Fox, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said "Twenty years ago, citizens of California were being taxed out of their homes by an out-of-control property tax system. While elected officials did little but talk about the problem, the voters acted. Using the initiative process they passed Proposition 13, a citizen's law which cut and capped the property tax."Waggoner Carr, former Speaker of the House, former Attorney General, Texas said "There is, as you may know, a growing dissatisfaction with government. There certainly is nationwide.... the dissatisfaction with the federal scene
is rubbing off on the state scene. Now it appears to me that given the opportunity for the ordinary citizen to feel that he or she has a part in government, has a way of passing laws, or repealing laws, or changing the constitution by popular vote, is a very, very democratic and healthy way to relieve that growing dissatisfaction or feeling of revolt. I would urge you to consider that as a factor in support of I and R."Ralph Nader said, "Initiative and Referendum is the citizen activist's 'ace in the hole'."
James Madison in Federalist Paper No. 49, said "As the people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived, it seems strictly consonant to the republican theory to recur to the same original authority .… whenever it may be necessary to enlarge, diminish, or new-model the powers of government."
Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Editor of U. S. News & World Report said, "A million Hispanic children in California are caught in an experiment called bilingual education. It is failing them, it is failing the country, and it is time to end it. Californians will get a chance on June 2, thanks to the state's referendum process.
The beauty of the California initiative is that it leapfrogs over all the special interests and political calculations and gives choice to the people. That is democracy in any language."
M. Dane Waters, Founder of the Initiative and Referendum Institute said, "It is inevitable in any republic that our elected representatives lose touch with the electors and enact laws not wanted or supported by the people. The Initiative and Referendum process allows the people to vote down those laws not wanted and enact the reforms supported by the people when an out of touch government is unable or unwilling to act."
Woodrow Wilson said, "We are cleaning house and in order to clean house the one thing we need is a good broom. Initiative and referendum are good brooms."
Common Cause, in a June 1997 report, "Gamblers Unanimous" said, "In 1996, gambling opponents won 11 state ballot initiative battles, while gambling supporters won just one. Gambling opponents also won all 12 state legislative battles they faced in 1996."
Grover B. Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, said "One big difference between initiatives and elected representatives is that initiatives do not change their minds once you vote them in."
Theodore Roosevelt said in his Charter of Democracy speech in 1912, "Special interests which would be powerless in a general election may be all-powerful in a legislature if they enlist the services of a few skilled tacticians."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Robert M. La Follette said, "For years the American people have been engaged in a terrific struggle with the allied forces of organized wealth and political corruption ... The people must have in reserve new weapons for every emergency, if they are to regain and preserve control of their governments ... Through the initiative, referendum and recall the people in any emergency can absolutely control."
U. S. Senator Robert L. Owen of Illinois said in 1910, "By the initiative, the people can get any law they do want; and by the referendum, veto any law they do not want. You will find all the special interests, and perhaps a few good men misled, and all the crooks in the state, opposed to initiative and referendum."
John G. Matsusaka, University of Southern California, and Filip Palda, Fraser Institiute, said "Concerns that the rights of minorities will not be respected under direct legislation are unfounded. An initiative can be struck down by the courts if it violates the constitution."
Linda Curtis, Founder of Independent Texans, said, "We can't win any reforms without Initiative and Referendum. It's a basic democratic tool that Texas voters must have."
Linda Chavez, President of the Center for Equal Opportunity, said, "Maybe California voters are just too smart to let anyone convince them it's right to deprive Hispanic youngsters from learning English."
Green Party Platform says, "We support increasing opportunities for participatory democracy at the local level. As we do so, we endorse and advocate citizen rights to INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM and RECALL."
Joel Fox, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said "Critics who claim special interests control the initiative process fail to look at the record. Sure, big moneyed groups can qualify initiatives for the ballot; but the results of passing special interest initiatives are poor. Voters are not given enough credit for their ability to make wise decisions at the polls."
Ramiro Galindo of Bryan, Texas said, "Initiative & Referendum are the best tools available in a democratic society to protect the integrity of a representative system and to preserve its responsiveness to the electorate. Much too often large bureaucracies, professional politicians and other narrow interests groups become masters of government using it to their benefit. In twenty-four other states I&R have proven to be the best defense against these distortions."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Ed Wendt, Houston Forward Times, said, "The people of Texas are at a crossroads as we move into the 21st Century. One road would give us direct democracy and keep the American dream evolving and liberty alive in the Lone Star State. The other road would keep the lobbyists and big business interests in control of state government and diminish even further the role of ordinary people. I think it is high time the politicians in Austin stop making promises about I&R and put their faith in the people who bear the burden of financing state government."
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, said, "Organized special interest groups prefer that power be concentrated in state and national capitals, because it is much easier for them to influence when it is concentrated in the hands of a small group in one place. The initiative process is one of the very few effective tools citizens have for decentralizing power."
U. S. Senator Robert L. Owen, Illinois, 1910, "By the initiative, the people can get any law they do want; and by the referendum, veto any law they do not want. You will find all the special interests, and perhaps a few good men misled, and all the crooks in the state, opposed to initiative and referendum."
Gwen Pharo of Dallas, Texas, said, "To get the Legislature to address the issues that the voters are truly interested in is an insurmountable problem. The only solution to this is for the people to have the power to bring important subjects directly to the ones most affected - the voters. Initiative and Referendum (I&R) is the mechanism."
P. W. Gifford of Dallas, Texas, said, "Although it has existed for one hundred years it has not lead to passage of any laws or amendments which have adversely affected the people or government. It results in better education of voters and increased their participation in government activities."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Michael Rothschild, Author of Bionomic: Economy as Ecosystem, said, "We the People" were not accidentally chosen as the first three words of the Constitution. All power in our democratic Republic flows from the "consent of the governed." To establish a Government with enough power to make law and yet ensure this power could never be consolidated and abused, the Founders divvied it up amongst the conflicting entities of the House, Senate, President, Courts, and States. The initiative and referendum process, as later developed by the States, elevates to their highest expression the primary Constitutional principles of divided power and the sovereignty of "We the People."
John G. Matsusaka, University of Southern California, and Filip Palda, Fraser Institiute, said "The main question in any case is whether big money can more easily control the legislative process of representatives than direct legislation. The need of parties and candidates to continually raise campaign funds is likely to make them more susceptible to big money than the electorate as a whole."
Allan E. Parker, Jr., Texas Justice Foundation, said, "The legislative process in Texas is very open to organized, well funded interest groups and lobbyists. Initiative and Referendum would give the people as a whole more control over their government. I think it is time we adopted I&R at the state level. It has worked well in our cities."
Dick Armey of Irving, Texas, Majority Leader, U. S. House of Representatives, said, "I was born in North Dakota. We had I&R. I thought everyone did. I think everyone should."
Jesse Butler of Austin, Texas, St. Edward's University Student Body President, said, "The freedom of initiative process should not be feared. When it comes to the issue of initiative it does not matter what race, sex, age, religion, or political party you are. We all have rights protected by the U. S. Constitution that can not be taken away by even the largest majority vote. All people can use the initiative process to propose laws that politicians either will not or can not pass."
John S. Shockley, political scientist, said, "Claims that the initiative has worked for the benefit of only one political philosophy or one group of people simply are not true."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Emily E. Goodey of Pflugerville, Texas, said, "Many of the substantive issues that currently grip much of the nation had their start on the national stage in California, a state in which initiative is legal. Immigration and welfare, affirmative action, school vouchers--all have been voted on in the last five years, and all had their start as citizen petitions. Referendum allows citizens to vote on items that politicians might be willing to support, except they would be hammered by the press."
Paul Truax of Dallas, Texas, Chairman, Reform Party of Texas, said, "Initiative and Referendum allows citizens to have a real voice in government. That is especially important in today's political climate when lobbyists actually write legislation and large campaign contributors hold sway while the Texas legislature is in session."
James J. Fuqua, Lazy U Ranch, of Hardeman County, Texas, said, "Initiative and Referendum give the citizens hands-on control of the reins when needed. If government moves too slow or in the wrong direction, citizens can take the reins and lead it; if it moves too fast or in the wrong direction, the citizens can pull back on the reins and say, 'Whoa! We need a new direction'."
David Hartman of Austin, Texas, Founder, Hartland Bank, said, "I was skeptical of Initiative and Referendum, but the proposed constitutional amendment from Texans for I&R has been carefully crafted to provide sufficient percentage and distribution of voters, appropriate timing of elections and all other necessary safeguards. I am now convinced that Texas needs this reform; and I am a spokesman for this decentralization of government power."
M. A. Taylor of McLennan County, Texas, Former Texas State representative, said, "I&R, with proper safeguards, can make the voice of the people clearly heard by an unhearing government."
Larry Brumley of Panola County, Texas, said, "Initiative and Referendum is vitally important in a working democracy. Without it, "majority rules" has no meaning and legislative arrogance will prevail."
Arnold Steinberg, Pollster, of Camarillo, California, said, "The initiative process, with all its shortcomings, is the last hope for the people for reform. For example, without California's Proposition 209, we would still be overwhelmed by racial and gender set-asides in California. Here was a measure opposed by every parochial special interest that triumphed over the status quo."
C. A. Stubbs of San Antonio, Texas, Texas' Tax Watchdog, said, "A record of success: I & R is a winner and can make a winner out of you. In just 7 years, Texas' largest local tax-watch organization in San Antonio, conducted 6 major I & R campaigns, (approximately 425,000 signatures) and won 67% of the time. There are 284 Home Rule cities in Texas that could all be using I & R right now. Let's not only use Home Rule I & R, but get the same for Texas as well."
Judge Cyndi Taylor Krier of Bexar County, Texas, said, "As I State Senator and now as County Judge, it always has been important for me to know what the constituents I represent are thinking. Their personal comments, phone calls and letters help, but reflect only a small portion of the 1.4 million people in our county. Through initiatives and referendums, we would know their position on important issues and voters could become more involved in their governments."
Dick Armey of Irving, Texas, former Majority Leader, U. S. House of Representatives, said, "It is very difficult to get good new ideas to be considered by Legislative bodies. New ideas have to be taken to the people. That's why we need the initiative process."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Terese Raia of Sugar Land, Texas, said, "I support I&R because it gives us, the common man, the ability to control our government. The proposed safeguards in I&R for Texas protects us from "mob-ocracy".
Leland Kerby of Uvalde County, Texas, said, "Initiative, Referendum and Recall form the basis of complete citizen participation in government; it is the ultimate of 'checks and balances' intended by the framers of our constitution."
Glenn Canfield, Jr. of Gregg County, Texas, said, "Initiative and referendum offers citizens and groups they support the opportunity to place before the electorate ideas and legislation that will not usually pass the muster of legislative leaders. It does not make much difference who controls the legislature as to what types of legislation will be considered in any particular session. The I&R method permits voters to test the waters of public opinion and put pressure on the elected legislators. I&R is just another tool in the arsenal of the electorate; it will be subject to the same ups and downs, abuses and goods, as any other tool."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.John F. Mauldin of Texas, said, "In an era where there is a seeming disconnect between elected officials and the electorate, I & R offers a way for important issues to be addressed and debated in a public forum. For those of us who champion the concept of the importance of ideas, it is a vehicle which gives us an arena in which to change public policy and opinion."
Mike Holmes of Houston, Texas, said, "In matters of policy the majority of the people are not always right. But they are always entitled to be heard on important issues---without the intermediation of professional politicians and their accompanying special interests. This is why we need initiative and referendum procedures, to by-pass politicians when necessary and when important issues aren't being otherwise addressed."
Richard L. Bowers of Corpus Christi, Texas, said, "Initiative and Referendum go to the heart of democracy. Government's authority is derived from the people. Arguments that somehow the people's judgement is flawed are specious to say the least. The issue of whether or not to allow I&R must not rise or fall on how one sees the public's response to a specific issue."
Bob Reeves of Center, Texas, said, "I strongly support I&R because it is at the heart of the principles that our founding fathers formed this nation on. It truly puts Government in the hands of the people."
Jay Yancey of Dallas, Texas, said, "In my opinion, Initiative and Referendum represent the purest intent of the Declaration of Independence that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed."
Thomas A. Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste, said, "The proposed I&R process is designed to require immense amounts of organization, cooperation, and agreement among voters and should eliminate the threat of frivolous, trivial matters littering election day ballots. We consider I&R a very important part of our democracy as it was intended and CCAGW fully supports your efforts."
George Gallup, Pollster, said, "The public is always ahead of its leaders… I think the country would have been a hell of a lot better off if we'd had national initiative."
A. C. Barger of Leon County, Texas, said, "I&R Matters for hundreds of reasons, two of them being - All great accomplishments started with initiative, this being the key to success. Without public participation in any form of government, there can never be true representation."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.William A. Rusher said, "The initiative and referendum process was invented by 'progressives' nearly a century ago to circumvent control of state legislatures by special interests--in those days, usually business interests. Today it continues to serve the same purpose, but the special interests, more often than not, are liberal--e.g. labor unions, "minority" lobbyists, etc. Though it tends to be a rather blunt instrument, it continues to be useful, and sometimes essential."
Stewart Munroe of Texas, said, "The concept of initiative and referendum date back to 1898 when the radical labor and farm leaders of South Dakota were able to obtain its passage. I&R are a basic change sought by reformers during the past one hundred years, and are now reforms that conservatives value. If voters do not trust their elected representatives then many know to seek this reform. Several states now have I&R and it seems cities like Austin and the many school districts, with such poor governments need the change. State legislatures were the original targets of the reform and considering the consistently low level of these law-making bodies, initiative and referendum are needed today."
Roland Rich of Angelina County, Texas, said, "California, with its Initiative and Referendum, leads the nation in new ideas; and most states follow them soon after their I&R votes. Why must Texas follow California? We need Initiative and Referendum."
Michael Woodson of Texas, said, "I am for Initiatives and Referendums, if by that you mean devices enabling the public to vote on propositions here in Texas on a regular basis. Realize of course, that should the majority become corrupt, the minority will suffer.
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Todd Smith of Austin, Texas, said, "It is indefensible that the same elected officials who trust the voters of Texas to impact the actions of state government by electing them to public office, do not trust those very same voters to impact state government through the use of initiative and referendum. The majority of Texans have said they want to exercise the right of initiative and referendum. For our legislative leaders to deny the people of Texas this right, is not only arrogance personified, it is an abdication of their moral obligation to the people they supposedly have been elected to represent. I & R in Texas is long overdue."
Joseph Bast, President, The Heartland Institute, said, "There was a time when Illinois had a national reputation for innovative public policies ranging from city planning and environmental protection to housing and social services. That reputation has long-since disappeared, due in large part to the fact that citizens here have no access to initiative and referenda. I&R is essential to mobilizing public opinion behind reform agendas, holding elected officials accountable, and nudging along the often slow-paced legislature. States without I&R, such as Illinois, find themselves stuck in neutral gear while other states are able to pull ahead with real policy alternatives."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Ed Crane, President, Cato Institute, said, "In an era when politicians have rigged the system to guarantee 95 percent reelection rates and are increasingly disdainful of the will of the people, the need for initiative and referendum has never been greater. I&R strikes fear in the hearts of bureaucrats and politicians alike, because it implies self-government, hence reducing their importance."
John Fund with the Wall Street Journal, said, "Without initiatives and referendums, elites would barely bother at all to take note of public opinion on issues they disdained - from supermajority requirements to raise taxes to term limits. They serve as a reminder that the experts' sometimes have to pay attention to good old common sense."
Michael "Mac" McCarthy, President, Web Publishing Inc., said, "In California, the citizen initiative process has been a bedrock of democracy since the turn of the century. Of all the state government reforms instituted by Hiram Johnson, the initiative is the most enduring. Johnson, fighting the railroad special interests of the day which so completely dominated state politics, wanted to ensure that no matter how many legislators were bought, scared, misled, or corrupted, the people would have one powerful means to make their will directly into law: the initiative."
Tom Glass of Houston, Texas, said, "Because the growth of government reduces liberty, and because special interest forces increase government, we need every possible procedural and institutional check on government. Although it is possible for initiative to be misused by special interests to violate rights, it is less likely to do so than legislative bodies, and is more likely to reduce government power. Referendum is virtually guaranteed to increase liberty. When was the last time you heard of a legislature repealing a bad law?"
Paul Jacob, Founder of Citizens in Charge, said, "The citizen initiative process is today the political life-blood of the people. Without initiative and referendum the politicians can ignore the people and monopolize power. Some may prefer all decision-making to take place in the backrooms of the Capitol, but I say let we the people vote on the issues that impact our lives. That's what freedom is all about."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Steve Moore, Founder of Club for Growth, said, "The American people must have recourse to discipline recalcitrant and arrogant state legislatures. Too often our politicians represent only the special interests and ignore the public interest. The Initiative and Referendum process is plain and simple about giving POWER TO THE PEOPLE. It has been a life saver in the states where it is an option. I&R is essential to passing tax limitations, term limits, and civil rights laws guaranteeing a color blind society. Voters need to have the right of I&R (and the right to recall politicians). We as Americans need this right in every state capital. We also need it on a national level to discipline our hopelessly out-of-touch Washington politicians."
Eric O'Keefe, Founder of Americans for Limited Government, said, "Congress has become unrepresentative. Legalized corruption is its core competency. Term limits are the people's solution to the corruption of career politicians. Yet without the right of popular initiative in many of the states, the term limits movement would never have been able to prove that it has the broad support of the people."
Robert Poole, President, Reason Foundation, said, "Of all the governments in the world today, Switzerland's comes closest to my ideal of decentralized self-government. Initiative and referendum is one of the most critically important features of the Swiss constitutional structure. The United States can learn much from the Swiss example."
Lawrence W. Reed, President, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said, "Initiatives and referenda are valuable tools in the toolkit of representative government. They do not assume that the citizenry will always be right; they do assume, however, that government is often wrong and naturally exclusive and that from time to time, it can benefit from an aroused and empowered public. Fear the government that fears the voice of its citizens."
Howie Rich, said, "The initiative process was the tool voters used to impose term limits on 17 state legislatures. Moreover, initiatives drove term limits on Congress to the national stage."
David J. Theroux, Founder and President, The Independent Institute, said, "The public remains largely at the mercy of special interests who thrive on the pervasive influence of government bureaucracy and politics in the United States. Fortunately, the growing movement for ballot referenda and initiatives is providing a very effective means of checking such unbridled political power. This movement is essential to any serious effort at reducing government power and protecting the rights of the citizenry."
Richard Winger, Editor and Publisher, Ballot Access News, said, "The United States needs the initiative because experience teaches us that legislators themselves are a special interest. In the absence of the initiative, there is almost no means for society to protect the general welfare against the special interest of legislators as a class. The best example are extravagant pensions for members of Congress."
Marshall Fritz, Founder, Separation of School and State Alliance, said, "If you can't trust the people to vote for initiatives, how can you trust them to vote for politicians?"
Michael "Mac" McCarthy, President, Web Publishing Inc., said, "One of the overlooked advantages of the initiative process is the pressure it can put on legislators to act boldly on issues they might otherwise prefer to set aside. The threat of an initiative can be a welcome counterbalance for lawmakers under pressure from special interests or party politics. "If we don't address this problem, the citizens will take it out of our hands and fix it themselves!" can be a powerful incentive."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Barbara Vincent, Chairwoman, National Referendum Movement, "Had World War I not come along when it did, followed by World War II, probably every state in the country, including Texas, would have initiative and referendum today; because the realization had spread rapidly that the people can't redress grievances against government through the petition process if no petition process exists."
Larry Dodge, Founder of the Fully Informed Jury Institute, said, "By direct invocation of the will of the electorate, initiative and referendum can counteract and limit the otherwise inevitable corruption of representative democracy by special interests, the most dangerous of which is the government itself. "
Gene Rice of Dallas, Texas, "I was born and raised in Michigan. I always assumed that every state had I&R. That's what we learned in school. And I was kind of overwhelmed when I found out when I moved to Texas over 40 years ago, that there is no such thing as I&R."
What do you say? Join the others;
contact us via email and tell us.Thomas E. Cronin, author of Direct Democracy, said, "The worry that the outcome of voter approved measures can be influenced by well-financed special interests is real, but their disproportionate influence is less than under the capitol dome."
Edward A. Jaksha of Omaha, Nebraska, said, "Attacks on the petition process are attacks on the freedom of the citizen body. Attempts to restrict the use of petition are attempts to diminish the influence of the unorganized citizenry."
Edward A. Jaksha said, "Petitioners are first class citizens, who, having the courage of their convictions, act as "free men".
Edward A. Jaksha said, "Complainants may cry out against the overuse of the tool of petition. The answer is simple: a government which is open, informative and responsive, is not likely to be petitioned."
Allison Castle, Austin, Texas, said, "Citizens who vote are those who care the most, and are the most informed. These voters have at least three major advantages over legislators: 1) Legislators vote on thousands of issues, while citizens vote on ten or twenty. 2) Legislators vote during 140 frenzied days of session, while citizens can reflect leisurely over many months. 3) Legislators are impacted by $90 million of special interests firepower each session ($490,000 per legislator), while citizens are impacted far less (maybe $15 per citizen). Summing up, citizens have far more reflective time to decide far fewer issues under far less special interest influence."
Barbara Vincent, National Referendum Movement, said, "The right of redress and the right to representation are two entirely different aspects of self-rule. Each enjoys constitutional protection and neither can supplant the other, because each is designed to play a specific role in self-governance. Representation provides convenience (so the people need not be "continually convened for the purpose of governing themselves"), and redress provides protection from the misguided actions of those representatives)."
"The citizens of each state are guaranteed a republican form of government by the U.S. Constitution, Amendment IV § 4. 'In a republic, all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on that authority and instituted for their peace, safety and happiness. For these ends, they may alter or reform the government in such manner as they think proper. In this country, these are well-recognized political truths, independent of any written constitution or laws.'"
Smith v. Isenhour, 43 Tenn. (3 Cold.) 214 (1866)
Ridley v. Sherbrook, 43 Tenn. (3 Cold.) 569 (1869)
State v. Staten, 46 Tenn. (6 Cold.) 233 (1869)
Henley v. State, 98 Tenn. 665, 41 S.W. 352 (1897)
Haunting thoughts
not directly mentioning the initiative
but clearly pointing to why we need itThomas Jefferson said, "Men by their makeup are naturally divided into two camps: those who fear and distrust the people and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of higher classes; and those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them the safest and most honest, if not always the wisest repository of the public interest. These two camps exist in every country, and wherever men are free to think, speak, and write, they will identify themselves."
John Adams in 1772 said, "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with the power to endanger the public liberty."
David Hume said, "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
Thomas Jefferson said, "Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone."
Joseph Sobran has written, "Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993) argues that in a democracy laws are easy to pass and nearly impossible to repeal. The U. S. Congress has passed about 40,000 laws since 1798, most of them still operative; in 1968 a congressional staff concluded, after an eight-month study, that 'no one, anywhere, knows exactly how many federal programs there are'."
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "There is nothing in all the world greater than freedom. It is worth paying for; it is worth losing a job for; it is worth going to jail for. I would rather be a free pauper than a rich slave. I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions than live in inordinate riches with the lack of self respect."
Thomas Sowell said, "Too many Americans do not want to look below the surface or think beyond the moment. But it is our duty. We enjoy freedom and the rule of law on which it depends, not because we deserve it, but because others before us put their lives on the line to defend it. Are those who come after us to have less, because we couldn't be bothered to think about it."
The Tax Foundation says, "Calculating the tax bill on a daily basis, America's average wage-earners will spend 2 hours and 50 minutes of each and every workday in 1998, just to pay their taxes. This represents more earning time than is required to pay for housing, food and clothing combined."
Paul Johnson in a A History of the American People wrote, "Colonial America was the least taxed country in recorded history. Government was extremely small, limited in its powers, and cheap. … One reason why American living standards were so high was that people could dispose of virtually all their income... Until the 1760s most colonists were rarely, if ever, conscious of a tax-burden. It is the closest the world has ever come to a no-tax society. This was a tremendous benefit which America carried with it into Independence and helps to explain why the United States remained a low tax society until the second half of the twentieth century."
Thomas Jefferson said, "The good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves."
Stanley B. Greenberg, Pollster for President Clinton, said, "More than 60 percent of the electorate now says it would vote for a third party candidate... those frustrated voters who have pulled back both from government and the two main political parties... Newsweek's Joe Klein calls them 'the pivotal slice of the presidential electorate'. Others describe them as the most significant force in American politics."
Joseph Sobran recently wrote, "So even though our political rhetoric is more conservative today, power keeps accumulating in Washington as steadily as if a Socialist Party were the dominant electoral force."
James Wilson said in Lectures on Law in 1790, "The supreme or sovereign power of society resides in the citizens at large, and...they always retain the right of abolishing, altering, or amending their constitution, at whatever time and whatever manner, they shall deem it expedient."
William 0. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1898-1980), wrote "The challenge to our liberties comes frequently not from those who consciously seek to destroy our system of government, but from men of goodwill -- good men who allow their proper concerns to blind them to the fact that what they propose to accomplish involves an impairment of liberty....
"The motives of these men are often commendable. What we must remember, however, is that preservation of liberties does not depend on motives. A suppression of liberty has the same effect whether the suppressor be a reformer or an outlaw. The only protection against misguided zeal is constant alertness to infractions of the guarantees of liberty (such as the right of redress) contained in our Constitution. Each surrender of liberty to the demands of the moment makes easier another, larger surrender. . . In short, the liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are protected."
(Parenthetical remark added).Thomas Jefferson said, "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it."
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