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Limited Government Quotes

Browse 245 quotes about Limited Government.

Limited Government Quotes

“For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

“Everybody complains about pork, but members of Congress keep spending because voters do not throw them out of office for doing so. The rotten system in Congress will change only when the American people change their beliefs about the proper role of government in our society. Too many members of Congress believe they can solve all economic problems, cure all social ills, and bring about worldwide peace and prosperity simply by creating new federal programs. We must reject unlimited government and reassert the constitutional rule of law if we hope to halt the spending orgy.”

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Source: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

“Those who proposed the Constitution knew, and those who ratified the Constitution also knew that this is...a limited government tied down to specified powers....It was never supposed or suspected that the old Congress could give away the money of the states to encourage agriculture or for any other purpose they pleased.”

Giving States Government Purpose Constitution Congress Tied Agriculture Limited Government

Author:James Madison

“The right way is the greatest gratifier of human wishes ever come upon - when allowed to operate. It is as morally sound as the Golden Rule. It is the way of willing exchange, of common consent, of self-responsibility, of open opportunity. It respects the right of each to the product of his labor. It limits the police force to keeping the peace. It is the way of the free market, private property, limited government. On its banner is emblazoned Individual Liberty.”

“A fact rarely suspected, let alone understood, is that businessmen are by no means the chief beneficiaries of the free market, private ownership, limited government way of life. Many business ventures fail entirely. Who then are the beneficiaries? The masses!”

Way Mean Facts Government Failing Mass Understood Chiefs Ownership Venture Businessman Free Market Limited Government Beneficiaries

Author:Leonard Read

“When power is for sale, then government power should be severely limited. When power is abused, then the less power the better.”

Should Government Limited Government

Author:Charley Reese

“From my perspective, what I'm really focused on, is making sure that, for the broadest number of Americans possible, limited government and free enterprise, the principles that have truly helped build our country into an exceptional one, is one that is being sold to and appeals to the broadest number of Americans.”

Country Government Numbers Principles Focused Our Country Appeals Enterprise Exceptional Limited Government Free Enterprise

Author:Marco Rubio

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”

Book:Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way

Source: Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

Source: Jefferson: Political Writings

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”

Source: Jefferson: Political Writings

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”

Men Political Freedom Liberty Sea Calm Libertarian 4th Of July Freedom And Liberty Despotism Freedom Liberty Limited Government Democracies Have Timidity Despots Boisterous Calm Seas

Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798

Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”

War Government Spirit Certain Politics Wish Freedom Liberty Alive Valuable Libertarian Tyranny Resistance Occasions Presidential Revolutionary Patriotic Anti War Patriot Gun Control Dissent Freedom And Liberty Freedom Liberty Our Founding Fathers Property Rights American Revolution Limited Government Democracies Have Us Founding Fathers Right To Bear Arms Forefathers Bearing Arms American Government Limiting Government Pro Gun Libertarian Party Founding Fathers Gun Limited Freedom Political Will Political Freedom Eternal Vigilance Great Libertarian Liberty And Justice America Freedom Price Of Freedom Limiting Freedom Resistance To Change American Freedom Tyranny Founding Fathers Democracy In America Government And Politics Government Politics Government Tyranny Controlling Government Liberty And Justice For All Voting Founding Fathers Political Wisdom Minority Government Divided Government

Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1786-1787

Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1786-1787

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

Source: Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson

“I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”

Government Politics Liberty Libertarian Life And Love Freedom And Liberty Energetic Freedom Liberty Limited Government American Government Eternal Vigilance Government And Society Oppressive Governments

Book:Jefferson: Political Writings

Source: Jefferson: Political Writings

“Conservative Republicans are back. We're in the fight for fiscal discipline and limited government, and we are on the side of the American people.”

People Government Fighting Sides Discipline Republican Conservative Limited Government

Author:Mike Pence

“Republicans, supposed defenders of limited government, actually are enablers of an unlimited presidency. Their belief in strict construction of the Constitution evaporates, and they become, in behavior if not in thought, adherents of the woolly idea of a 'living Constitution.' They endorse, by their passivity, the idea that new threats justify ignoring the Framers' text and logic about shared responsibility for war-making.”

“I think people are confused about what the Tea Party is. I mean, they were a broad cross-section of Americans who came together concerned about our debt and our spending. And they're interested in constitutional, limited government. And so they're not one group of people. They're thousands of small groups all over the country.”

People Thinking Mean Country Government Together Party Groups Concerned Crosses Debt Spending Tea Confused Broads Sections Tea Party Limited Government Small Groups

Author:Jim DeMint

“You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.”

Ifs Inspirational Light Government Causes Liberty Benefits Harm Libertarian Legislation Freedom And Liberty Freedom Liberty Limited Government Limiting Government Rights And Freedoms Limited Freedom

Author:Lyndon B. Johnson

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

“What the issue here is, you get rid of all the conservative orthodoxy about capital gains, marginal tax rate, supply side economics, you just throw all that out the window, limited government and you just embrace the sheer and raw politics of resentment that have been bubbling the whole time and that`s what you get. You get Donald Trump.”

Has Beens Whole Government Sides Issues Trump Taxes Gains Economics Window Embrace Rate Conservative Resentment Sheer Orthodoxy Limited Government Capital Gains Supply Side Economics

Author:Chris Hayes

“I went to my first national convention in 1976, when my family supported [Ronald] Reagan over [Gerald] Ford, so we've always been Republicans, but we've always wanted the Republican Party to be the party of fiscally conservative, limited-government types. And I think, sometimes, we haven't done that as well.”

Thinking Firsts Wells Sometimes Done Government Wanted Party Havens Type Republican My Family Conservative Conventions Republican Party Limited Government Gerald Ford

Author:Rand Paul

“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.”

Source: The History of Freedom: Great Event

“Liberalism is a creation of the seventeenth century, fathered by British philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). For Locke, liberalism means limited government, the rule of law, due process, liberty, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, separation of church and state, and separation of government powers into branches that oversee each other's authority.”

Source: A Manual for Creating Atheists

“This oppressor/oppressed cultural Marxist thing is you're an authentic woman and an authentic black even only if you support liberal causes. If you are a woman, if you are a Hispanic, if you are black, and you abide by a value system that believes in limited government and constitutional principles, you are an apostate to the utopian ideals of the left, and you are not protected, and you are pilloried, and that is why I became a conservative because I thought it was fundamentally unfair, fundamentally un-American.”

Ifs Believe Government Values Left Causes Black Principles Support Ideals Conservative Protected Unfair Oppressed Oppressors Limited Government Utopian Marxist Hispanic Value Systems

Author:Andrew Breitbart

“I believe in limited government and the right of the individual to make choices and in a strong national defense and in freedom and liberty as being the right of every person on the face of the Earth.”

Believe Persons Government Earth Faces Choices Individual Strong I Believe Liberty I Believe In Defense Freedom And Liberty Limited Government National Defense

Author:Karl Rove

“Ronald Reagan [ cite the founders] on behalf of emphasizing the faith of our founders, of limited government, of the uniqueness and exceptionalism of America, of a nation with a people facing another historic challenge beyond the American Revolution, and in contrasting the system of the United States with the system of the USSR.”

People States Government America Nations Challenges United United States Revolution Founders Uniqueness Behalf Historic American Revolution Limited Government Citing Ussr Exceptionalism

Author:Paul Kengor

“I think Donald Trump understands there's a Constitution. And that those separate but equal branches of government give us a limited government. And he believes that.”

Thinking Giving Believe Government Trump Equal Constitution Branches Limited Government Branches Of Government Separate But Equal

Author:Paul Ryan

“Pat Buchanan has emerged as the prophet and forerunner of a real economic nationalism on the right, and Donald Trump is now its tribune. This is not movement ideology which is all about limited government, the power of free markets and also internationally - globalism.”

Real Government Economic Movement Trump Ideology Prophet Nationalism Free Market Limited Government Globalism Forerunners

Author:Sam Tanenhaus

“The real problem is that "limited government" invariably leads to unlimited government. If history is to be any guide and current experience is to be any guide, we in the United States 200 years ago started out with the notion of limited government - virtually no government interference - and we now have a massive quasi-totalitarian government.”

Ifs Years Real States Problem Government United United States Years Ago Notion Currents Guides Massive Unlimited Interference Limited Government Real Problems Totalitarian Government

Author:Murray Bookchin

“I think that people who believe in limited government would benefit greatly by studying the logic in government itself and the role of power as a corruptive mechanism in leading finally to unlimited government.”

People Thinking Believe Government Roles Study Benefits Logic Mechanism Unlimited Limited Government

Author:Murray Bookchin

“I feel that if people investigate the emergence of government, of State power - if they examine the logic of State power historically, and more specifically in the United States - they will find that the concept of limited government is not tenable once they adopt some type of libertarian principle.”

People Ifs Feels States Government United Principles United States Type Concepts Logic Libertarian Limited Government Emergence

Author:Murray Bookchin

“Whether you're a populist; whether you're a limited government conservative; whether you're libertarian; whether you're an economic nationalist - we have wide and sometimes divergent opinions. The center core of what we believe, that America is a nation with an economy, not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders, but we are a nation with a culture and a reason for being.”

Believe Sometimes Reason Government America Culture Nations Opinion Economy Economic Conservative Wide Libertarian Core Borders Marketplace Limited Government Divergent Populist

Author:Stephen K. Bannon

“Frankly, the conservatives need to be better conservatives. Real conservatives actually respect our Constitution and would stand up to an authoritarian. Real conservatives believe in clean, limited government and would stand up to anybody who is basically setting up a kleptocracy, nepotism, and crony capitalism. And real conservatives are actually strong for America and not weak for Russia.”

Needs Believe Real Government America Strong Capitalism Weak Constitution Clean Russia Setting Settings Limited Government Nepotism Cronies Crony Capitalism

Author:Van Jones

“The Senate, compared to the House, is where things are supposed to slow down, by design, Founding Father design. The Founding Fathers were hell-bent to stop government action. The Constitution limited government. And that's why people like Obama and Democrats call it a charter of negative liberties because it limits government. It's an anti-government, pro-citizen document. And the founders wanted to make it hard.”

“The real future of America, the best future for ourselves and our children, is to go back in the direction of limited government restrained by the Constitution.”

Children Real Government America Constitution Our Children Limited Government Future Of America

Author:Robert P. George

“What the Tea Parties are standing for is constitutional principle. It's not fundamentally about tax rates or whether to have a consumption tax or an income tax. It's about adherence to Constitution and the principle of limited government.”

Government Party Principles Taxes Standing Constitution Rate Income Tea Consumption Income Tax Tea Party Limited Government Adherence

Author:Robert P. George

“I think the Respublican party's lost its way. We have given into nativism and protectionism. And I think that, if we're going to be a governing party in the future, and a majority party, we have got to go back to traditional conservatism, limited government, economic freedom, individual responsibility, respect for free trade. Those are the principles that made us who we are.”

Thinking Individual Party Responsibility Economic Trade Conservatism Limited Government Free Trade

Author:Jeff Flake

“If you're a limited government conservative, I feel your pain. Your man Mr. Bush has exploded the size of government, ballooned the deficit and increased government power so dramatically that he claims the right to eavesdrop on your conversations without a warrant.”

Men Pain Conservative Limited Government

Author:Paul Begala

“I believe in the separation of powers. If a judge crosses the line between interpreting and making the law, he has crossed the line supporting his legitimate authority from the legislative branch's authority. Now, to me that's a very serious matter if we believe, as America's founders, did that the separation of powers - not just in theory or in textbook but in practice in the actual functioning of government - is the linchpin of limited government and liberty.”

Believe I Believe Liberty Serious Judging Authority Separation Founders Limited Government Separation Of Powers

Author:Orrin Hatch

“The word "democracy" is a Western word obviously. It doesn't exist in Arabic. Democratiya is a loan word. We in the Western world make the great mistake of assuming that ours is the only form of good government; that democracy means what it means in the Anglo-American world and a few other places in the West, but not many others. Muslims have their own tradition on limited government. Now in Islam, there is a very strong political tradition. Because the different circumstances, Islam is political from the very beginning.”

World Mean Different Political Strong Mistake Democracy Circumstances Tradition Assuming Islam Western Very Strong Loan Limited Government

Author:Bernard Lewis

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

Source: A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison