It is true that public powers are only valid, in fact and in law, if they are in accordance with the best interests of the country, if they are based on the confident support of citizens. When it comes to institutions, building on anything else would be building on sand. It would be to risk seeing the edifice collapse once again during one of those crises to which, by the nature of things, our country is so often exposed.
[See the full post at: Bayeux speech: General de Gaulle’s first address to the people of France (1946)]