2000s, The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate (2002), Q&A
“The American Revolution wasn’t about replacing a hereditary tyrant with an elective despotism. It is time to remind our ruling elites of that point. It is time to remind them that the founding principle of our nation holds that when those who profess to govern us perpetrate a “long train of abuses” designed to “reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” It is not just our right - but our duty - to send a loud, clear and unequivocal message to the president and Congress that it is time to stop the war on liberty and freedom, today and in the 2012 election.”
2011, " America Is Not a Battlefield http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=7002"
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R. Lee Wrights 13
American gubernatorial candidate 1958–2017Related quotes
Source: A Discourse on the Love of Our Country (1789), p. 34
Presidency (1977–1981), Farewell Address (1981)
Context: Within our system of government every American has a right and duty to help shape the future course of the United States.
Thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny of all government officials by the press and the public are an important part of our democratic society. Now as in our past, only the understanding and involvement of the people through full and open debate can help to avoid serious mistakes and assure the continued dignity and safety of the nation.
2014, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall (April 2014)
Nobel Banquet Speech
This Bread is Mine (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Liberty Press, (1960) pp. 363, 365. Source. http://alexpeak.com/twr/doi/
“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for”
Query XIII
1780s, Notes on the State of Virginia
Context: All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative body. The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. [... ] As little will it avail us that they are chosen by ourselves. An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by others.
The Civil Rights Act of 1997 http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/detail/the-civil-rights-act-of-1997 (December 1, 1997)
2016, News Conference With Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany (November 2016)