Posted on 06/18/2003 12:21:28 PM PDT by keyd
The essence of government: 24 political truths
by LP News Staff
Over the years, millions of words have been written about government. Deep
thinkers from Aristotle to John Maynard Keynes have weighed in with their opinions
about the optimal size and scope of government. Books great and small have been
devoted to the subject.
Ignore them. They're all unnecessary.
In fact, all you'll ever need to properly understand government are the following
'24 political truths.' They are the distilled essence of verisimilitude about
politics, politicians, and governing. They're a crash course in how politics really
works. They're a political-science masters degree in just a few minutes.
And they're even fun. Enjoy.
1. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of
Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw
2. If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want
government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to
intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene
anywhere, you're an extremist. -- Joseph Sobran
3. In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible
from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -- Voltaire
4. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't
take an interest in you. -- Pericles
5. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no
constitution, no law, no court can save it. -- Judge Learned Hand
6. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to
have for dinner. -- James Bovard
7. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to
rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey
8. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to
teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke
9. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at
the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat
10. 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, subsidize
it. -- Ronald Reagan
11. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will
Rogers
12. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs
when it's free. -- P.J. O'Rourke
13. No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in
session. -- Mark Twain
14. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I
repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
15. Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it. -- Anonymous
16. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one
end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan
17. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The
inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston
Churchill
18. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist
leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain
19. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the
world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer
20. There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress. -- Mark
Twain
21. There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you please. And with it
comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences. -- P.J.
O'Rourke
22. We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man
standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston
Churchill
23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley
24. When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be
bought and sold are legislators. -- P.J. O'Rourke
(Excerpt) Read more at lp.org ...
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