Politics and Power

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.

We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

Men whose lives are doubtful want a strong government and a hot religion.

Must a government be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government.

The best minds in government? If any were, business would hire them away.

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.

History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government. . . . When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.

A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.

That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.

I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government.

Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.

Good government is no substitute for self-government.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, "What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.

We must not look to government to solve our problems. Government is the problem.

Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.

Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put in this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.

The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.