NOCRAP

Noticeably Outraged Citizen for Responsible, Altruistic Politicians 

one of these days i'm gonna lay this hammer down
leave my burden restin' on the ground
when the air don't choke ya and the ocean's clean
and the kids don't die for gasoline
one of these days i'm gonna lay this hammer down

Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade

[T]he States can best govern our home
concerns and the general government
our foreign ones. I wish, therefore...
never to see all offices transferred
to Washington, where, further
withdrawn from the eyes of
the people, they may more
secretly be bought and
sold at market.

Thomas Jefferson - letter to Col. William F. Elkins, June 12, 1823

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the
federal government are few and defined.  Those which are to
remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.

James Madison - Federalist No. 45

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.     Abraham Lincoln - November 21, 1864

It is easier for a rich man to enter heaven seated comfortably on a camel, than it is for a poor man to pass through the eye of a needle.     Al Franken - Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them

If you want to know how your Congressmen and Senators are going to vote . . .
maybe they should be like NASCAR drivers.  They should actually have
to have jackets with the names of all the people sponsoring them. 
Wouldn't that be cool?  Then you might have a clue as to why they voted that way.

Robin Williams - Weapons of Self

But the safety of the people of America against dangers
from foreign force depends not only on their forbearing
to give just causes of war to other nations, but also on
their placing and continuing themselves in such a situation
as not to invite hostility or insult; for it need not be observed
that there are pretended as well as just causes of war.
John Jay - Federalist No. 4

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

President Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address, 1961

The essence of Government is power;
and power, lodged as it must be in human
hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
James Madison

I would rather be exposed to the
inconveniences attending too
much liberty than those attending
too small a degree of it.

Thomas Jefferson

Freedom had been hunted round the globe;
reason was considered as rebellion;
and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
But such is the irresistible nature of truth,
that all it asks, and all it wants,
is the liberty of appearing.
Thomas Paine

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle,

that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail,

that will to be rightful must be reasonable;

that the minority possess their equal rights,

which equal law must protect,

and to violate would be oppression.

Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1801

If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.

Candidus