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About this quote

What does it mean?
Government exists to serve people, with progress valued only when it benefits all.
In plain terms
The goal of government is helping all citizens.
What can you take from it?
Measure progress by how well it helps everyone.

Where it applies

  • policy evaluation
  • governance
  • development goals

Putting it to work

  • prioritize citizens
  • assess benefits
  • reduce inequality

Questions to consider

  • How do you measure welfare?
  • Who benefits from progress?

Another view

Material progress can coexist with unequal distribution.

More from Theodore Roosevelt

  1. Every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.

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  2. We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.

    Permalink to quote #23
  3. It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs …

    Permalink to quote #20

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