Divided Government Quotes

• A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Believe, Fall, Government

  Speech at Republican state convention nominating him to run for U.S. senator, Springfield, Ill., 16 June 1858

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• What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Freedom, Gun

  Letter toWilliam Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

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• The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, War, Patriotic

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1786-1787”, p.263, Cosimo, Inc.

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• An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on true free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among general bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Liberty, Principles

  "Notes on the State of Virginia". Book by Thomas Jefferson, Query XIII, 1781.

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• I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Believe, Patriotic, Government

  Speech at Republican state convention nominating him to run for U.S. senator, Springfield, Ill., 16 June 1858

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• You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.

  Charles A. Beard

  Life, Father, Struggle

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• Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Law Courts, Government, Libertarian Party

  Olmstead v. United States (dissenting opinion) (1928)

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• The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Peace, Freedom, War

  Olmstead v. United States (dissenting opinion) (1928)

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• Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.

  Noah Webster

  Country, Army, Gun

  Noah Webster (1787). “An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System”, p.43

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• 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.

  Jonah Goldberg

  Country, Hero, Men

  "Do Liberals Live Under A 'Tyranny Of Cliches'?". "Morning Edition" with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. May 2, 2012.

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• Every time a Republican wins the White House, whenever Republicans win control of Congress, the Drive-Bys always claim that the message is voters want a balanced and divided government.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Winning, White, Government

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• The excuse of divided government is over: they have the House and the Senate as well; they have the state legislatures; they have a majority of the governors. And that's exciting. But for me, I think the lesson also is all the opportunities out there for women, increasingly in politics and media and public policy and government affairs - all the things we do here in Washington - that we still have to make choices, there are limits.

  Kellyanne Conway

  Opportunity, Thinking, Government

  Source: www.politico.com

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• I don't think that split government is a good idea. Conventional wisdom in Washington for years has been that divided government is good because of a check and a balance. What I believe happens all too often, regardless of which party is there's gridlock. And I think the better argument is give one party a chance, give them a chance with a House and a Senate and a president. Give them a few years to see what they can do. And if you don't like it, put another party in.

  Scott Walker

  Believe, Party, Thinking

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• Having served as the majority spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee after Republicans took the House in 1994, I've seen the promise and the peril of divided government before.

  Ari Fleischer

  Mean, Government, House

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• The trouble with the theory [of limited and divided government] is that government is not a machine, but a living thing. This is where the living and breathing constitution comes from. It is modified by its environment, necessitated by its tasks, shaped to its functions by the sheer pressure of life.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Government, Breathing, Tasks

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• President Clinton was able to achieve budget surpluses despite a divided government.

  Jim Cooper

  Government, President, Able

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• We need to develop and disseminate an entirely new paradigm and practice of collaboration that supersedes the traditional silos that have divided governments, philanthropies and private enterprises for decades and replace it with networks of partnerships working together to create a globally prosperous society.

  Simon Mainwaring

  Government, Practice, Working Together

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• Health care reform, the marquee legislative accomplishment of the Obama administration's first term, was passed before we entered the world of divided government.

  Eliot Spitzer

  Government, Accomplishment, Reform

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