“The fact is, that I am the watchman, the man on the tower, who can be neither coaxed, nor wheedled, nor bullied; and I have expressed my determination never to quit my post until I obtain a cheap government for the country, and, by doing away with the places and pensions, prevent the people’s pockets from being picked. These men know that if I were to get into the House of Commons under a reformed Parliament, I should speedily effect that object, and therefore they are resolved to get rid of me by some means or other.” - William Cobbett, Defense against charges of libel before the Court of The King’s Bench, July 1831.
“The resources of this country are almost beyond computation. No mind can comprehend them. But the cost of our combined governments is likewise almost beyond definition. Not only those who are now making their tax returns, but those who meet the enhanced cost of existence in their monthly bills, know by hard experience what this great burden is and what it does. No matter what others may want, these people want a drastic economy. They are opposed to waste. They know that extravagance lengthens the hours and diminishes the rewards of their labor. I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.” - President Calvin Coolidge, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1925.