Quotes About Government

It's December 15, 1978, when he makes the announcement. His smile is cautious—this is good news, but he knows that his statement, in eight minutes, will delegitimize a government and turn a half century of history into a joke. That is why his people waited until the last possible moment to tell the Republic of China that today is the day.

Indiscriminate firing by police on people is absolute barbarism. Instead of solving their problems, the government is trying to suppress the people by force.

By virtually any measure, the record of the Republican Majority is an appalling failure.

For my part I consider the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us of proving that popular government is not an absurdity. We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove the incapacity of the people to govern themselves.

Through this liberalism, the government took a kind of benevolent dominion over the fate of minorities and the poor, not to genuinely help them (which would require asking from them the hard work and sacrifice that real development requires), but to achieve immunity for the government from the taint of the past.

It left us pleading with the government, not for freedom, which we had already won, but for "programs" and "preferences" that would be a ladder to full equality.

However, by relegating The Good to the government, and making it a matter of public policy, we transformed it from an earnest and personal moral struggle into a glib cultural symbolism.

Some conservatives are surprised to find people on the Left supporting the war in Afghanistan. It's not surprising at all…It is hard for the government to prosecute a war and not expand…Conservatives may think they can support war and oppose the expansion of the state, but that is like trying to square the circle. What makes them think they can contain the expansion?

If government played by the same rules as the rest of us, it would cease to be government.

No matter how much the government controls the economic system, any problem will be blamed on whatever small zone of freedom that remains.

If people give up their attachment to expansive government, they will feel free to fight the income tax.

An open and (semi-) free society cannot realistically expect to eliminate the risk of indiscriminate violence. The cost in liberty and dignity would be way too high — and the attempt would fail. Moreover, the risk of violence perpetrated by our guardians would not be eliminated but augmented.

Athens showed and the United States of the twenty-first century confirmed, imperialism undercuts democracy by furthering inequalities among its citizens.

In matters of public policy and governmental decision making, lobbying demonstrates how little the actions of the electorate matter. The proliferation of Washington lobbyists, who now number in the thousands, is indicative of a radical change in the meaning of who and what are being represented, and indicative also of the final defeat of majority rule.

As a citizen, I would rather have a President McCain that we fight with 20% of the time, than a President Clinton or a President Obama that we fight with 90% of the time.

The majority of the population thinks that if the government runs healthcare, they're going to take away your freedom. At the same time, the public favors a national healthcare program.

The man assumed office almost four years ago - isn't it about time he assumed responsibility?

The President has a short time to let people know that he is serious about getting spending under control.

Every time I have a political rally I meet some people who say, "I need a job."

And it's time as a country that we have an assault weapon ban.

Perhaps it is time to be more careful what we ask government to do, and where we allow it to become part of our lives.

Last time Congress passed a major six-year transportation bill was in 1997, since then there have been 21 short-term extensions.

The last time we raised the gas tax, which is how we built the interstate system, was 1993.

I'm not the president, so the president, has top secret clearance immediately. I don't. It takes time.