Advice"Let books be your friends, for, by so doing, you can summon to
your fireside in seasons of loneliness the choice spirits of all
the ages. Observe mankind through the eyes of charity, for, by
so doing, you will discover anew the oft forgotten fact that
earth is peopled with many gallant souls. Study nature and walks
at times in solitude beneath the starry heavens, for, by so doing,
you will absorb the great lesson that God is infinite and that
your life is just a little beat within the heart of time. Cling
to the ancient landmarks of truth, but be ever ready to test the
soundness of a new idea. Accept whatever your mind finds to be true,
and whatever your conscience determines to be right, and whatever
your heart declares to be noble, even though your act in so doing
may drive a hoary prejudice from its throne. And, above all things,
meditate often upon the words and deeds of Him who died on Calvary
for, by so doing, 'ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.'"
Sam Ervin
Source:http://www.ncpoliticalreview.com/1101/Ervin/excerpts.htm
Bill of Rights, John Mitchell &
John Ehrlichman"I don't think either one of them would have recognized the
Bill of Rights if they met it on the street in broad daylight
under a cloudless sky."
Sam Ervin
Church and StateA school prayer amendment would confer upon public school boards a
power the First Amendment now denies to Congress and the states,
that is, the power to establish religion.
Sam Ervin
Preserving the Constitution (1984), quoted from Albert J. Menendez
and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom
What James Madison and the other men of his generation had in mind when
they wrote the First Amendment was that there should be no official
relationship of any character between government and any church
or many churches, and no levying of taxes for the support of any church,
or many churches, or all churches, or any institution conducted by any of
them.
Sam Ervin
address, U.S. Senate (April 23, 1973), quoted from Albert J. Menendez
and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom
For too long the issue of government aid to church related
organizations has been a divisive force in our society and in the
Congress. It has erected communication barriers among our religions
and fostered intolerance.
Sam Ervin,
Quotations from Chairman Sam:
The Wit and Wisdom of Senator Sam Ervin (1973)
If religious freedom is to endure in America, the responsibility for
teaching religion to public school children must be left to the homes
and churches of our land, where this responsibility rightfully belongs.
It must not be assumed by the government through the agency of the
public school system.
Sam Ervin,
Preserving the Constitution (1984) quoted from Albert J. Menendez
and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom
"I believe in a wall between church and state so high that
no one can climb over it."
Sam Ervin
"When religion controls government, political liberty dies;
and when government controls religion, religious liberty perishes."
Sam Ervin
"Every American has the constitutional right not to be taxed
or have his tax money expended for the establishment of religion."
Sam Ervin
"Government is contemptuous of true religion when it confiscates
the taxes of Caesar to finance the things of God."
Sam Ervin
Churches should look to their members and their friends only for
the financing of their undertakings, and no church should engage
in any undertaking, no matter how laudable it may be, that its
members and friends are unable or unwilling to finance."
Sam J. Ervin, Jr.
ConstitutionThe President is a servant of the Constitution and not it's master.
There is nothing explicit or implicit in that instrument which exempts
him from a duty the law imposes on all competent human beings in
our land.
Sam Ervin
Source:The Whole Truth
The Constitution did not confer upon the President the arbitary power to
suspend any of its provisions. On the contrary it gave him no powers
except those expressly stated and those necessarily
implied from them. The Constitution was written that way to restrain
the President from tyranny.
Sam Ervin
Source:The Whole Truth
Court's Error"... judicial verbicide is calculated to convert the Constitution into a
worthless scrap of paper and to replace our government of laws with a judicial
oligarchy."
-- Senator Sam Ervin
(1896-1985) United States Senator NC-D (1954-1974)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Sam.Ervin.Quote.8A8F
Criminal Activities"There is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes or makes
it the official duty of a president to have anything to do with
criminal activities."
Sam Ervin
Divine Right"Divine right went out with the American Revolution and
doesn't belong to the White House aides. What meat do
they eat that makes them grow so great?"
Sam Ervin
Executive Privilege"The President seems to extend executive privilege way out
past the atmosphere. What he says is executive privilege is
nothing but executive poppycock."
Sam Ervin
"I'm not going to let anybody come down at night like Nicodemus
and whisper something in my ear that no one else can hear.
That is not executive privilege; it is poppycock."
Sam Ervin
Ford's Pardon of NixonPresident Ford did infinite injury to the indispensable principle of
good government embodied in the phrase "Equal justice under the law".
Sam Ervin
Source:The Whole Truth
Judicial Activist
"A judicial activist is a judge who interprets the Constitution to mean
what it would have said if he, instead of the Founding Fathers,
had written it."
-- Senator Sam Erving
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Sam.Erving.Quote.E96E
Just and Unjust"The rain it raineth on the just And also on the unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just,
because The unjust steals the just's umbrella."
Sam Ervin
Leader"A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of
other people or improve the system they live under."
Sam Ervin
NothingI've always been worried about people who are willing to work for
nothing. Sometimes that's all you get from them, nothing.
Sam Ervin
Source:http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/sam_ervin/2.html
Polygraph"Polygraph tests are 20th-century witchcraft."
Sam Ervin
President Nixon"He had the most pronounced, aggravated notion about
the powers of the presidency. He envisioned the
President as being something of an absolute monarch."
Sam Ervin
Senate Select Committee on Watergate"I'll have you understand I am running this court, and the law
hasn't got a damn thing to do with it!"
Sam Ervin
Right To Vote"If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars
who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National
Committee at the Watergate were in effect breaking into the home of
every citizen of the United States. And if these allegations prove to
be true, what they were seeking to steal was not the jewels, money
or other precious property of American citizens, but something much
more valuable - their most precious heritage:
the right to vote in a free election."
Sen. Sam Ervin of North Carolina
They Did It TooMurder and theft have been committed since the earliest history of
mankind, but that fact has not made murder meritorious or larcency legal.
Sam Ervin
Source:The Whole Truth
Thought"The world of the mind is an illimitable land whose boundaries are
as vast as the universe itself....and thought is calling us at all
times to the undiscovered countries lying beyond the next visible
range of mountains."
Sam Ervin
Source:http://www.ncpoliticalreview.com/1101/Ervin/excerpts.htm
Watergate"I used to think that the Civil War was our country's greatest
tragedy, but I do remember that there were some redeeming features in
the Civil War in that there was some spirit of sacrifice and heroism
displayed on both sides. I see no redeeming features in Watergate."
Sam Ervin
Winning and LoseingWhen I win, I crow softly, if at all; and when I lose, I weep gently,
if at all. I do not consider President Nixon's change of mind a surrender
to me. I consider it a victory for the constitutional government in America.
Sam Ervin
Source:The Whole Truth
ReaganFormer Senator Sam Ervin, who directed the Senate Watergate
investigation, died at the age of 88 on April 23. He was regarded
as the foremost constitutional expert in Congress.
Shortly before his death, he penned the following letter to
President Reagan:
"Dear Mr. President: The Constitution is the wisest instrument of
government the earth has ever known. If America is to endure as
a free Republic as ordained by it, Presidents, Supreme Court
justices and other public officers must do what they have sworn
to do, that is, support it.
"Despite my admiration for you, I am constrained by my duty to
our country to assert that what you say and advocate, in
respect for religion, shows that you do not understand the
religious clauses of the First Amendment, and how obedience
to them is essential to the preservation of religious freedom
they are designed to secure to all Americans of all faiths.
"You urge Congress to give Federal tax credits to parents who
send their children to private schools to be taught the creeds
of their churches. Your action in this respect violates the First
Amendment, which forbids government to use the taxes of
Caesar to finance the things of God.
"You named an ambassador to the Vatican, an act in violation
of the establishment clause, which in the words of its drafter,
James Madison, forbids government to establish an official
relationship with any religion.
"You urge adoption of a constitutional amendment to authorize
prayer in the public schools. The adoption of such an amendment
would drastically alter the First Amendment, which commands the
government be strictly neutral in respect to religion and leaves
the task of teaching religion to children to the homes and
churches of our land.
"The government must keep its hands off religion if our people
are to enjoy religious freedom, our most precious freedom."
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