713 – “I affirm, therefore, that our present position is one of apostasy; and to give the ballot to the Negro will be no innovation, but a return to the old paths, a restoration of that spirit of liberty to which the sufferings and sacrifices of the Revolution gave birth.”

–James A Garfield, 20th President of the United States of America

653 – Grover Cleveland’s Statue of Liberty Dedication

“We are not here today to bow before the representation of a fierce warlike god, filled with wrath and vengeance, but we joyously contemplate instead our own deity keeping watch and ward before the open gates of America and greater than all that have been celebrated in ancient song. Instead of grasping in her hand thunderbolts of terror and of death, she holds aloft the light which illumines the way to man’s enfranchisement. We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home, nor shall her chosen altar be neglected. Willing votaries will constantly keep alive its fires and these shall gleam upon the shores of our sister Republic thence, and joined with answering rays a stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression, until Liberty enlightens the world.”

–Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States of America

Today is Election Day in the United States, and regardless of who you support it is important that you go vote. Don’t make excuses, as the fewer people who vote, the worse and more partisan our democratic republic becomes, so exercise the fundamental right and vote!

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597 – “We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.”

–Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America

263 – “In a democracy, everyone gets to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. But that’s impossible if people don’t have access to the goods they need to survive – if they’re hungry or homeless or sick. And the reality is that when goods are rationed by the market, fewer people have access to them. Markets are places of winners and losers. You don’t get what you need – you get what you can afford.”

–Ben Tarnoff