Quotations on the duties of citizenship

 I came across the following in "The Face of War: Writings from the Frontline, 1937-85" by Martha  Gellhorn, and consider it well worth contemplating: 

"As citizens, I think we all have an exhausting duty to know what our governments are up to, and it is cowardice or laziness to ask: what can I do about it anyway? Every squeak counts, if only in self-respect." 

 And, from "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" by  Daniel  Ellsberg: 

"words written by James Madison, drafter of the First Amendment: A popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."