Comments on Government
"I cannot help but say ... that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized," said Mr. Lieberman, a strong supporter of going to war to oust Saddam. "Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq, working to liberate Iraq and protect our security, have never apologized."
--Sen. Joe Lieberman"If government subsidized beaches, we would have a shortage of sand."
--Ronald Reagan"I find it very interesting that when the heat got in, you dug yourself a hole and crawled in it."
--President Bush, speaking about Saddam Hussein's capture."I felt there was a threat to my soldiers. ... If it's about the life of my men, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can."
--Lt. Col. Allen West, concerning charges that he threanted an Iraqi detainee."What I've always said on this program is, 'Meet me in the arena of ideas. Meet me smack-dab in the arena of ideas, and I'll discuss anything with anybody, and I'm willing to be wrong, and I'm willing to be stupid. I'm willing to run the risk of being both because this is what freedom is essentially all about in a free society.'"
--Rush Limbaugh"Taxes are commonly a calamity for the people and a nightmare for the government. For the former they are always excessive; for the latter they are never enough, never too much."
--Juan de Mariana (1535–1624)"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."
--Thomas Sowell"I cannot describe to you the anger and humiliation that fills me as a black man to be viewed with such misplaced pity and misguided patronization."
Activist Ward Connerly, speaking about the Supreme Court's recent decision on affirmative action."Almost all limits on federal power have been set aside in the interest of the common good. Politicians pay far more attention to the wishes and demands of the mob than they do to the constraints of the Constitution. Politicians, beginning with Woodrow Wilson, have been working with great success to convince the vast majority of Americans that this is a country of majority rule, not a country of law."
--Neal Boortz"What good is winning the House if we're going to pass liberalism? What good is winning the House if all we're going to do is liberalism-lite? I'd just as soon go back to being in the minority and raise hell, like it was in the good old days."
--Rush Limbaugh"Government is like a big baby--an alimentary canal with a big appetite on one end and no sense of responsibility on the other."
--Ronald Reagan"One of the clearest measures of a society's liberty is the freedom to stand up and say your leader is an ass without worrying about a government van pulling up 10 minutes later to drag you away."
--Joel Miller, columnist for WorldNetDaily"With respect to the two words 'general welfare,' I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."
--James Madison, speaking of the "General Welfare" clause in the U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 8)"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
--Thomas Jefferson"How many votes do you think a James Madison-type senatorial candidate would get if his campaign theme was something like this: 'Elect me to office. I will protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. Because there's no constitutional authority for Congress spending on the objects of benevolence, don't expect for me to vote for prescription drugs for the elderly, handouts to farmers and food stamps for the poor. Instead, I'll fight these and other unconstitutional congressional expenditures'? I'll tell you how many votes he'll get: It will be Williams' vote, and that's it."
--Professor Walter E. Williams"Last year, the corporate tax collected $191.6 billion. That's money that could have been producing better goods and higher-paying jobs. Instead, the government very likely wasted it, transferring it to those who did not earn it and squandering it on unconstitutional and meddlesome programs."
--Sheldon Richman, senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation"The Constitution and the Bill of Rights limit the government, not the people. But liberalism limits the people, favors government, grows and expands it."
--Rush Limbaugh"The government's got a tax code that punishes you when you succeed, takes away your legacy from your children, punishes you when you fail, encourages you to buy a home, and then also encourages you to live in it out of wedlock. Ladies and gentlemen, what we've got is a nutty tax code."
--Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas