Quotes About Government

To put on the garment of legitimacy is the first aim of every coup. When

Washington's incessant need for NEW assessments testifies to uncertainty in the capital.

The hypothetical has its charm, but actual government is history.

The Republic cured me of the Republic.

the French, who had put large expectations in the abasement of Britain that American success would cause, had been disappointed by the weakness of the American military effort. Instead of an aggressive ally, they were tied to a dependent client, unable to establish a strong government and requiring transfusions of men-at-arms and money to keep its war effort alive.

What the Ambassador was witnessing—in idea, if not yet in fact—was the transfer of power from its arbitrary exercise by nobles and monarchs to power stationed in a constitution and in representation of the people. The period of the transfer, coinciding with his own career, from 1767 to 1797,

That he survived, and indeed returned to government, was one of man's occasional triumphs over medicine.

Why, since folly or perversity is expected of individuals, should we expect anything else from government?

princes are instituted by God not to seek their own gain but the common good of the people.

The fact-finding mission was now the traditional Washington substitute for policy.

Congress is functioning the way the Founding Fathers intended-not very well. They understood that if you move too quickly, our democracy will be less responsible to the majority.

Exhaustion and exasperation are frequently the handmaidens of legislative decision.

Deny God, and authority rests on force alone; we relapse into despotism.

the fabled three horsemen of the fiscal apocalypse—fraud, waste, and abuse

They can vote for every possible war that comes along and still be "pro-life," while a levy that applies only to the vast fortunes left by the richest 1 percent of Americans when a spousal exemption is claimed is the "death tax.

disconnect between people's distaste for government and their attraction to its manifestations.

In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of the state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.

some nations have tried to bring about more economic equality in economically harmful ways, not through opening up free markets but through brute use of government power. Making equality a more important goal than overall economic growth is a mistake for a government, because merely distributing the same amount of wealth in different ways does not change the total amount of wealth a nation produces each year, which is the only way that any nation has grown from poverty to prosperity.

poor. They argue that greater economic equality is a matter of simple justice that governments should enforce. We certainly agree with the goal of helping the poor share in more of the wealth of a nation, and in several sections of the following chapters we discuss ways this can happen through fair, open, market-based solutions.7 The goal of this entire book is finding truly workable, sustainable ways to overcome poverty. However, some

The cultural value that the purpose of government is to serve and bring benefit to the people as a whole will likely serve as the single greatest deterrent against corruption in government.

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "How in a free country such as this, can we ban video games and golf, yet continue to permit stamp collecting?"

We must always remember that, as Americans, we all have a common enemy -- an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.

the Bank of England, chartered in 1694 to raise money for war with France,

And here we encounter the seeds of government disaster and collapse -- the kind that wrecked ancient Rome and every other civilization that allowed a socio political monster called the welfare state to exist