Quotable Sunday - Quotes on Government

The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. ~Lewis Mumford, in Anne Chisholm, Philosophers of the Earth: Conversations with Ecologists, 1972

It might be more worthwhile if we stopped wringing our hands and started ringing our congressmen. ~Author Unknown

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston Churchill

If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. ~Kelvin Throop

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. ~George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, "Maxims: Education," 1905


The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow Wilson

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~St. Augustine

Democracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. ~Benjamin Lichtenberg

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O'Rourke

If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. ~George Bernard Shaw

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. ~Barry Goldwater

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb. ~Benjamin Franklin

Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard Lamm

The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words. ~National Review

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