Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [981-1000] of 1384 Government quotesGovernment QuotesGovernment Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian.~ Pat Paulsen Contrary to the Marxists, the Nazis did not advocate public ownership of the means of production. They did demand that the government oversee and run the nation's economy. The issue of legal ownership, they explained, is secondary; what counts is the issue of control. Private citizens, therefore, may continue to hold titles to property -- so long as the state reserves to itself the unqualified right to regulate the use of their property.~ Leonard Peikoff Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.~ William Penn Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.~ William Penn Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.~ Pericles Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.~ Laurence J. Peter Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy.~ Charles Peters The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded.~ Franklin Pierce Socialism is after all, the Viagra of politics...~ Michael Pierce Under our Constitution, the federal government has delegated, enumerated and thus limited powers. Power is delegated by the founding generation or through subsequent amendment (that makes it legitimate); enumerated in the constitution (that makes it legal); and limited by that enumeration. As the 10th Amendment says, if a power hasn’t been delegated, the federal government doesn’t have it. For 150 years, that design held for the most part. When faced with a welfare bill in 1794, for example, James Madison, the principal author of the Constitution, rose in the House to say that he could find no constitutional authority for the bill. A century later, when Congress passed a similar measure, President Cleveland vetoed it as beyond Congress’ authority. That all changed during the New Deal as both congress and the president sought to expand federal power. When the Supreme court objected, rather than amend the Constitution, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the court with six additional members. The scheme failed, but the threat worked. Thereafter, the court started reading the Constitution’s General Welfare and Commerce Clauses so broadly that the doctrine of enumerated powers was essentially destroyed—and with it limited government.~ Roger Pilon [T]he vast regulatory structure the federal government has erected in the name of the commerce power cannot be ended overnight, in many cases, but the pretense that such programs are constitutional can be ended, even as the programs themselves are phased out over time.~ Roger Pilon Over the 20th century, the federal government has assumed a vast and unprecedented set of powers. Not only has the exercise of those powers upset the balance between federal and state governments; run roughshod over individuals, families, and firms; and reduced economic opportunity for all; but most of what the federal government does today -- to put the point as plainly and candidly as possible -- is illegitimate because done without explicit constitutional authority. The time has come to start returning power to the states and the people, to relimit federal power in our fundamental law, to restore constitutional government.~ Roger Pilon The growth of federal power and programs over this century -- involving the regulation of business, the expansion of "civil rights," the production of environmental goods, and much else -- has taken place in large measure through the power of Congress to regulate "commerce among the states." That power has been read so broadly by the modern Court that Congress today can regulate anything that even "affects" commerce, which in principle is everything. As a result, save for the restraints imposed by the Bill of Rights, the commerce power is now essentially plenary, which is hardly what the Framers intended when they enumerated Congress’s powers. Indeed, if they had meant for Congress to be able to do anything it wanted under the commerce power, the enumeration of Congress’s other powers -- to say nothing of the defense of the doctrine of enumerated powers throughout the Federalist Papers -- would have been pointless. The purpose of the commerce clause quite simply, was to enable Congress to ensure the free flow of commerce among the states. Under the Articles of Confederation, state legislatures had enacted tariffs and other protectionist measures that impeded interstate commerce. To break the logjam, Congress was empowered to make commerce among the states "regular." In fact, the need to do so was one of the principal reasons behind the call for a new constitution.~ Roger Pilon Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.~ William Pitt Unlimited Power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.~ William Pitt, Sr. Democracy…is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.~ Plato Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments.~ Plato The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs, is to be ruled by evil men.~ Plato Democracy leads to anarchy, which is mob rule.~ Plato The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.~ Plutarch Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print