“When government accepts responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves.”

Pataki is as greedy and monstrously unprincipaled as is the whole neo-con brigade. The times have changed since small populations and communities could tend to their own. In a huge capitalist monster like this one, there is no one interested in those who cannot fend for themselve for whatever reason -- incuding over 50,000 wounded vets from Iraq getting almost no help from the gov't that forced them to sacrifice their lives to turn Irag into Houston, Texas.

The quote is spot on !

That quote is spot on only for those who have enough of everything and can provide for themselves as I did for 40 years until disability prevented me from working. Now, attending to my mom who is 87 with Parkinson's and dementia, its all we can do to keep up rent, insurance and the bare necessities. Pataki and his kind would prefer, apparently to dispose of any not rich enough to take care of their own needs. Read the _Handmaid's Tale_ by Margaret Atwood. The opinion that such a quote is spot on is mired in the 18th c. "landed gentry" class. And here too, someday, there will be _real_ class warfare....

I agree with daigu, nowheresville, or whoever. A disgusting, unprincipled quotation by another ignorant governor.

Comming from a man of a tremendous State wide nanny state, I'd say he's either a hypocrite or both that and someone who points out exactly he doesn't want. Then again it could always be...I'm ashamed that he has a Magyar name, he's so complacent for one of us.

I agree with Kevin in PA. It's becoming a bit clearer that this site has an agenda to promote. Has anyone received 'mailed' quotes that aren't in this vein yet? I haven't.

Excellent sentiment--too bad many of the socialist respondents want to argue against the source of the quote, ad hominem. One race, human. One right, voluntary relations.

If we had more people that believed in the idea that is in this quote, we wouldn't be nit picking at agendas. And we would live better lives.

Of course we have an agenda -- promoting Freedom and the Responsibility that goes along with it. Each week of daily Liberty Quotes covers a particular theme. Check the quote Categories above for other quotes in the same vein. As far as Pataki goes, it is difficult to quote a politician -- even if they speak profound truths, they do so for their own purposes.

I think it is the depth of ignorance to attack the speaker instead of the words. What Pataki says has an ominous ring of truth to it. As to his personality, I have no idea and if one is to attack the speaker they should show evidence of their justification for so doing.

I seem to recall that when Gov. Pataki first became a gubernatorial candidate in NY he took measures to protect his mother's money from possibly going to a nursing home in the future. True? I don't know but the rumor was persistent.

It cannot be said that government does not have any responsibility to the people. It has the responsibility to protect their individual rights. However, because of the tremendous growth of the welfare state, and the concurrent insidious infusion of socialism into our society - not the least example of which is the government's acceptance of the responsibility for educating the populace - brilliant quotes like this are completely beyond the understanding of many people who see such sentiments only as a threat to their particular handout, meal ticket or government subsidy, and cannot therefore judge a concept on its own merits but only as it may influence their situation. Daigu and his cheerleaders are shining examples. It is a sad commentary on the state of our Republic that comments on the relationship between an individual and government are reacted to emotionally before they are understood. Good catch, whomever noticed that Pataki was governor of NY...

The socialist/communist bloc loves to hate simple clear ideas that are clearly demonstrated over long periods of history.

"Bread and circuses" to hold the people.

Don't shoot the messenger, this quote is right on target.

Why is Pataki not running for President??? Oh right - because just over 50% of the U.S. populace is now partaking of some freebie - thus abdicating the responsibility of paying for something that they want or need. This man would be shouted down in a skinny minute lest the chumps (49%) that are underwriting all this socialism be reminded of their involuntary "contribution" to it all. The true responsibility of the government is to maintain the domestic peace /deal with crime and to protect us from invasion, maintaining our borders and a strong military. Considering how young urbanites are being encouraged to disrespect the authority of the police, aliens are being encouraged to ignore our borders and we are giving our national security away - to Iran (true home of Valerie Jarrett) in guaranteeing them nuclear capability under Obama's "Deal"...also to Russia, when Obama nixed our anti ballistic missile net extending from the Czech Republic through Poland as Putin wanted (because any trajectory from Iran has to pass over this area in order to hit the U.S.)... or selling our national security (Bill Clinton's executive order allowing the Loral Corp to test an anti ballistic missile over China...price for Bill $900,000), and more currently Hillary and Bill profiting from giving control of our uranium to Russia, using her offices to shake down countries all over the world, with foreign aid packages and red tape removals abounding as dictator after dictator forks over $500,000 to $700,000 to hear Bill deliver a speech. The Clintons and Obama busy themselves dispersing our wealth and destroying our security and distract us with talk about income inequality.
Attention Welfarians - all the section 8 housing, EIB cards, Obamaphones, Medicaid, disability and unemployment compensation will be unimportant to those of you who disappear thanks to an incoming nuke.

Maybe he should say: When government "removes" responsibility from the people...
It might better explain the place we find ourselves today...there is no expectation of self-responsibility, self-reliability, self-sufficiency...or 'self' for that matter. Our last 3 generations have learned thru the federal education system to be good collectivists that the government will take care of while their job is to work for the common good. Not even God will be necessary to folks by 2020....

Not shooting the messenger, as a stand alone quote, an extremely accurate observation, statement and realism.

I share Mike's sentiments. The quote is bang on -- taking responsibility for oneself is a prerequisite for freedom. While this is a political philosophy of conservatives, whether politicians truly embrace it or not is another story. The statement on its own is a founding principle for Independence.

The quote is spot on! Thank you Mr. Archer, Norwalk Mike and especially Mr. Rearden of Burr Ridge for helping to point out the obvious truth. Self evidence has always been the blind spot for socialists / communists and their useful idiots that have been worked over by leftist demagogues like Howard Zinn.

Absolute truth reigns high in this wise quote.
Only those who despise the quote believe in government dependency. In upholding and defending government dependency they thus believe in being and becoming a leech on those who show personal initiative, self-reliance and ambition to further benefit their lives and those of others.
There is only one place that the government attains the money to fill its coffers to support the leeches ... and that is from the people who work, make a profit and thus pay taxes.
--- "But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime." -- Frederic Bastiat

And what did he do as Gov., why simply put he used it as his playground. I hope he spends his days learning how to fix AC units. Where he's going it could be useful info.