Government Quotes - Page 445

In our complex world, there cannot be fruitful initiative without government, but unfortunately there can be government without initiative.

Education, and the life of the mind generally, is a matter in which individual initiative is the chief thing needed; the function of the state should begin and end with insistence on some kind of education, and, if possible, a kind which promotes mental individualism, not a kind which happens to conform to the prejudices of government officials.

Science has made unrestricted national sovereignty incompatible with human survival. The only possibilities are now world government or death.

If the Church is not now as bad as the Soviet Government, that is due to the influence of those who attacked the Church

The American people want to know that when they borrow a book from the library or buy a book, the government won't be looking over their shoulder. Everybody wants to fight terrorism, but we have to do it in away that protects American freedom.

I think Katrina is one more indication of how inefficient and corrupt this Administration is, and indicates the absolute lack of seriousness that [George W.] Bush has in making the government respond to the needs of the people. They are so separated from the lives of normal, low-income people that it never occurred to them that if you're poor and have no money, no car, that you can't leave.

I don't want to get people nervous falling off their chairs, but Social Security is a socialist program. It's a program by which the United States government has said that when you get old you should have a steady source of income.

I don't believe government should take over, you know, the grocery store down the street or own the means of production.

What does a political revolution look like? It means that 80 percent of the people vote in national elections, not 40 percent. It means that billionaires can't make unlimited campaign contributions and buy and sell politicians. It means that the U.S. government represents the needs of all the people, not just the 1 percent and their lobbyists.

Social security is the most successful government program in our nation's history. We are not going to cut social security! We are going to expand social security!

What I believe is that the United States is going to be playing on a level playing field in dealing with Israel and the Palestinian people. I am 100 percent pro Israel in the sense of Israel's right to exist, I lived in Israel, I have family in Israel, Israel has the right to live not only in peace and security, but to know that their very existence will be protected by the United States government.

The only way change happens is when people become more significantly involved in the political process. We have to increase voter turnout and citizen participation so that people know what's going on and demand a government that works for everybody and not just the one percent.

I wish I could take back some of the things I said and some of the things I did. But in the bigger picture, I don't feel that it was violent and terrible. I feel like it was primarily--obviously not completely--moral, based on a vision that the government should be better, and that people could be better, and that democracy should be real.

I'm not the government. Nor would I EVER want to be the government - I don't know how you feel about government, but I'm not really happy about them.

The reason we need to have a gold and silver based currency is to bring discipline to the financial system so the government can't go out and do all sorts of bad things.

The thing that distinguishes America is that it is a republican form of government - anything that is not outlawed or specifically barred or regulated by the [Constitution] is LEGAL.

When I was on tour, people would say "We don't need a value-based currency, we can go out and buy gold and silver with US dollars now." I mean that it is so utterly brain dead, because they miss the whole point: the reason we need to have a gold and silver based currency is to bring discipline to the financial system so the government can't go out and do all sorts of bad things.

Where government is impossible, politics is impossible.

If a government is to do great new things, it will need more support. If a government is to change the world, it will need mass support. This is one of the discoveries of modern government.

Government is the art of the momentary feasible, of the least bad attainable, and not of the rationally most desirable.

In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the conduct of public affairs. No longer merely an ultimate check on government, they were in some sense the government.

The rules of engagement have become so rigid that governments often straightjacket themselves in the face of unambiguous aggression.

Civil marriage, like all civil rights provided by the government, must be provided equally to all Americans.

Whenever we attempt to mend the scheme of Providence and to interfere in the Government of the world, we had need be very circumspect lest we do more harm than good.

If any form of government is capable of making a nation happy, ours I think bids fair now for producing that effect. But after all much depends upon the people who are governed.