Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of read more

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).

If you use your office as you would a private trust, and the
moneys as trust funds, if you read more

If you use your office as you would a private trust, and the
moneys as trust funds, if you faithfully perform your duty, we,
the people, may put you in the Presidential chair.

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to read more

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right

If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.

If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.

I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking of myself at all.

I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking of myself at all.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we read more

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably
tell you.
Ask him, read more

Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably
tell you.
Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a
trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a
trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing read more

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.