Quotes About Government

John Locke says that whatever other tasks a government undertakes—whether humanitarian or otherwise—its primary duty is to protect its own citizens from foreign and domestic thugs. That isn't fascism; it's classical liberalism. Similarly

Resistance to usurpation is possible provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them.1 —Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist

coercive government policies strip the virtue out of every transaction.

we now have a Leviathan state, far from the limited government the Founders envisioned.

In order to pressure the government to change its approach, however, Alinsky urged black activists to dress in African tribal costumes and greet government officials flying into Chicago from Washington, D.C. This action, he said, would dramatize the "colonial mentality" of the antipoverty establishment. I learned about this particular Alinsky caper from Hillary Clinton's Wellesley College thesis.18 Alinsky

Fascism is state-directed capitalism.

FDR is the canonized hero of American progressivism. Subsequent Democratic presidents, from Lyndon Johnson to Obama, have all sought to expand the power of the state by invoking the FDR model. Johnson

Progressives may privately consider themselves superior, but they know they cannot include that claim in their pitch. Consequently they claim superiority by default. In a society where government controls things and distributes wealth, the power of the bureaucrat becomes predominant.

Jonah Goldberg received pretty much the same treatment for his important book Liberal Fascism. Goldberg argues, "What we call liberalism—the refurnished edifice of American progressivism—is in fact a descendant of and manifestation of fascism.

Inequality of outcomes is not seen as a necessary evil that government should seek to remedy; rather, the government itself exists to guard citizens' right to accumulate unequal fortunes and property.

socialism is the ideology of thieves and

Alinsky remained, as he put it, an "outside agitator." He firmly believed that activists should not become part of the government. Yet ironically, Alinsky became the mentor to two figures, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who would learn from his techniques and then take them into the innermost corridors of power. Their

Socialism has made everyday existence a living hell nearly everywhere it has been tried, all over the world.

During the Reagan years the left fretted about "two hundred billion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see." What were annual deficits under Reagan became monthly deficits under Obama. In less than eight years, Obama has doubled the national debt.

A bigger problem is that a significant part of the Green New Deal—its guaranteed living wage, incomes for those unwilling to work, state guarantees for housing and education, government-run universal healthcare—has little or nothing to do with the climate. This seems to be socialism hiding behind an environmentalist banner. And this is of course why socialists like AOC and Bernie love it. They neither know nor care if the planet is getting hotter or colder.

Starting in 1933, the first year of the Third Reich, the Nazis also began the systematic exclusion of Jews from public office. Hitler added an "Aryan clause" to the civil service law which effectively banned Jews from government employment.

Now, paper and pencils, said Miss Marcy, clapping her hands. Writing paper is scarce in this house, and I had no intention of tearing sheets out of this exercise book, which is a superb sixpenny one the Vicar gave me. In the end, Miss Marcy took the middle pages out of her library record, which gave us a pleasant feeling that we were stealing from the government, and then we sat round the table and elected her chairman.

The activities of automobile manufacturers, commercial real estate developers, and the federal government have been far more important in determining patterns of transportation than consumer choice.

Through history it's the novelist who has felt affinity for the violent man who lives in the dark. Where are your sympathies? With the colonial police, the occupier, the rich landlord, the corrupt government, the militaristic state? Or with the terrorist?

The dangerous secrets used to be held outside the government. Plots, conspiracies, secrets of revolution, secrets of the end of the social order. Now it's the government that has a lock on the secrets that matter. All the danger is in the White House, from nuclear weapons on down.

being called a 'bad citizen' is a compliment to a novelist, at least to my mind. That's exactly what we ought to do. We ought to be bad citizens. We ought to, in the sense that we're writing against what power represents, and often what government represents, and what the corporation dictates, and what consumer consciousness has come to mean. In that sense, if we're bad citizens, we're doing our job.

The sewer system is a form of welfare state. It's a government funnel to the sea.

Our country, our people, and our laws have to be our top priority.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.1   —President Gerald Ford