"When our government is spoken of as..." - Quote by Barack Obama
When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening, foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us
More by Barack Obama
“What I remember thinking at that point, having gone through both the ups and downs of my first four years, and seeing the sea of people was, "What a remarkable country this is and how lucky am I that we live in a place where the son of a single mom, not born into any kind of fame or fortune, in a pretty remote state somehow can end up be in a position to - to make a difference."”
“That's part of what I tried to describe to my team and supporters after the election, there was a lot of disappointment.”
“We are committed to a world in which we keep America safe, but we recognize that our power doesn't just flow from our extraordinary military but also flows from the strength in our ideals and our principles and our values.”
More on Democracy
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
“I always say there's no ticket of admission for active citizenship. Anybody can get through that gate, and anybody can ask that basic question that gets the ball rolling.”
“The ultimate victory of tomorrow is democracy, and through democracy with education, for no people in all the world can be kept eternally ignorant or eternally enslaved.”
More on Government
“All constitutions, those of the States no less than that of the nation, are designed, and must be interpreted and administered so as to fit human rights.”
“Should my administration prove to be a very wicked one...or a very foolish one, if you, the people, are true to yourselves and the Constitution, there is little harm I can do, thank God.”
“. . . we should be men first, and subjects afterward.”