Government Should Be Small, Laws Unobtrusive, and Men Left Alone

Artist: John Trumbull, American, 1756-1843 “The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776” (painted 1786-1820) Oil on canvas, 53 x 78.7 cm (20 7/8 x 31 in.) Yale University Art Gallery, Trumbull Collection, Public domain

“The Constitution: A System of restraints against the natural tendency of government to expand in the direction of absolutism.” -Barry Goldwater The Conscience of a Conservative 

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is “needed” before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents “interests,” I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.” -Barry Goldwater The Conscience of a Conservative

“The main danger in judicial interpretation of the Constitution – or, for that matter, its judicial interpretation of any law- is that judges will mistake their own predilections for the law.” -Justice Antonin Scalia

“Faithful adherence to the test of a constitutional or statutory provision or, if that is ambiguous, to the traditional understanding of those who originally adopted it, reduces the danger that judges will substitute their beliefs for society’s.” -Justice Antonin Scalia

“…it’s not my Constitution to play around with…I don’t feel I have any particular right to put my gloss on your Constitution.” -Justice Clarence Thomas

“I just think we should interpret the Constitution as its drafted, not as we would have drafted it.” -Justice Clarence Thomas

 “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.” -The Federalist Society  

“Nowhere in the Constitution does it describe government’s business as being able to create jobs.” -Jesse Ventura Former Minnesota Governor

“Originalism is the only approach that can make judicial review democratically legitimate.” –Hon. Robert Bork

“I am a great friend to the manly and healthy exercise of the gun.” -Thomas Jefferson

“An individual right to bear arms exists and is supported by “the historical narrative” both before and after the second amendment was adopted.” -Justice Antonin Scalia

“Oil is the greatest problem of all time- the great polluter and promoter of terror. We should get rid of it.” -Shimon Peres Israeli President

“Oil and cars are the world’s biggest and most entrenched industries.”

“Some 94% of the world’s oil reserves are held by government, which do not know or will not reveal, the size of their holdings.”

“Ultralight materials can triple the efficiency of civilian cars, trucks and planes.” -Amory Lovins CEO Rocky Mountain Institute

“Within the next few decades the U.S. can end its oil dependence.” -Armory Lovins CEO Rocky Mountain Institute

“Vouchers for students to attend private schools instead of public schools better meet student needs and promotes salutary competition.” -Milton Friedman Friedman Foundation

“The Great Depression was caused not by capitalism, but by government intervention in the economy.” -Milton Friedman Friedman Foundation

“the first job of an economist is to tell governments what they cannot do..” -Ludwig von Mises’s

“Liberty is maintained best with strong states’ rights, limited government and the protection of private property.”

George Washington
John Adams
Alexander Hamilton
James Madison
James Monroe

“Neocons: Basically leftists in disguise.” -Patrick J. Buchanan

“Government should be small, laws unobtrusive, and men left alone to take responsibility for their own lives and their own decisions.” -Jesse Helms

“The graduated tax is a confiscatory tax. Its effect, and to a large extent its aim, is to bring down all men to a common level. Many of the leading proponents of the graduated tax frankly admit that their purpose is to redistribute the nation’s wealth. Their aim is an egalitarian society–an objective that does violence both to the charter of the Republic and the laws of Nature. We are equal in the eyes of god but we are equal in no other respect.” -Barry Goldwater The Conscience of a Conservative

“Check the Constitution for the word “education” and you will not find it. Which brings up an ironic (if depressing) point. In 2004 Congress ordered local public schools to hold programs commemorating the signing of the Constitution, a document that clearly denies Congress that power.”

“The war on drugs is itself an incredibly expensive and misguided undertaking.”

“We support a true market system for health care that would de-emphasize third party payments (including insurance and government) and restore the direct doctor-patient relationship.”

“The principal author of the Constitution, James Madison, wrote that the powers of the federal government were “few and defined.” The Tenth Amendment made clear that any powers not specifically granted to the federal government were reserved to the states or to the people.” –Cato Institute

Originally posted February 25, 2010.