We do not intend that this Republic shall ever fail as those republics of olden times failed, in which there finally came to be a government by classes, which resulted either in the poor plundering the rich or in the rich exploiting and in one form or another enslaving the poor; for either event means the destruction of free institutions and of individual liberty.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)

Speech, Union League Club, Philadelphia (30 Jan 1905)