eternal vigilance...
Now that I'm over laughing at being accused of conspiracy-mongering by somebody who believes that there's a Liberal Media Conspiracy, I'll just pass along the words of wiser men than me, and leave it at that. The principle of eternal vigilance in a democracy requires no defense.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election for Lord Mayor of Dublin, 1790. (Speeches. Dublin, 1808.) as quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations quoted in turn @ Wikipedia
"Evil prospers when good men do nothing."Possibly Philpot, possibly Edmund Burke Wiki again
"Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it."Milton Friedman
"But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government."Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, March 4, 1837
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania (1759)
“There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.”Edmund Burke
"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."James Madison, Federalist no. 51.
"It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power."John Adams, 1788
Otherwise unattributed quotes from FreedomKeys