Rather than expound on the injustices taking place in Washington, D.C., I ask all readers and leaders of our government to reflect on the three quotes below:
Adriana Trigiani, author: “The leaders who start out as jokes – people make fun of them, they’re caricatures, cartoons in newspapers – and people decide they are harmless. Those men are the most dangerous. The day comes when they use their power against their own people.”
Frances Perkins, secretary of labor throughout Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 12 years in office and creator of the Social Security Act: “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.”
Justice Hugo Black, concurring with the U.S. Supreme Court majority that upheld the right to publish the Pentagon Papers: “In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.”
One could also substitute the word “Congress” for “press” as a reminder of what the role of Congress should be.
Margy Burroughs
Brunswick
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