Ron Paul Talks abt Government's Role (146 QUOTES)

* I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas.
* The moral and Constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
* When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.
* Mr. Speaker, I once again find myself compelled to vote against the annual budget resolution for a very simple reason: it makes government bigger.
* Since it’s proven that centralized control over education and medicine has done nothing to improve them, and instead of reassessing these programs, more money is thrown into the same centralized planning, this is much closer to Emerson’s foolish consistency than defending liberty and private property in a consistent and forceful manner while strictly obeying the Constitution.
* We need to understand that the more government spends, the more freedom is lost. Instead of simply debating spending levels, we ought to be debating whether the departments, agencies, and programs funded by the budget should exist at all.
* No matter how well intentioned, an authoritarian government always abuses its powers.
* The federal government has no right to treat all Americans as criminals by spying on their relationship with their doctors, employers, or bankers.
* A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank.
* The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government.
* It is time for Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests and their own appetite for big government.
* In the free society envisioned by the founders, schools are held accountable to parents, not federal bureaucrats.
* Respect for individual liberty and dignity is the only answer to government force, force that serves the politically and economically powerful.
* A free society is based on the key principle that the government, the president, the Congress, the courts, and the bureaucrats are incapable of knowing what is best for each and every one of us.
* When one person can initiate war, by its definition, a republic no longer exists.
* The increases in domestic, foreign, and military spending would not be needed if Congress stopped trying to build an empire abroad and a nanny state at home.
* Our federal government, which was intended to operate as a very limited Constitutional republic, has instead become a virtually socialist leviathan that redistributes trillions of dollars.
* The American people have been offered two lousy choices. One, which is corporatism, a fascist type of approach, or, socialism.
* No Supreme Court ruling by itself can instill greater respect for life. And no Supreme Court justice can save our freedoms if we don’t fight for them ourselves.
* As we know well, when the government subsidizes something we get more of it.
* Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers.
* Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place.
* Politicians throughout history have tried to solve every problem conceivable to man, always failing to recognize that many of the problems we face result from previous so-called political solutions.
* Government cannot be the answer to every human ill.
* Continuing to view more government as the solution to problems will only make matters worse.”
* I once again find myself compelled to vote against the annual budget resolution for a very simple reason: it makes government bigger.
* The moral and Constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
* Whether it’s the war against poverty, drugs, terrorism, or the current Hitler of the day, an appeal to patriotism is used to convince the people that a little sacrifice of liberty, here and there, is a small price to pay. The results, though, are frightening and will soon become even more so.
* Politicians throughout history have tried to solve every problem conceivable to man, always failing to recognize that many of the problems we face result from previous so-called political solutions.
* You don’t cost the government money, the government costs you money!
* Americans understandably expect ethical conduct from their elected officials in Washington. But the whole system is so out of control that it's simply unrealistic to place faith in each and every government official in a position to sell influence. The larger the federal government becomes, the more it controls who wins and who loses in our society.
* Government cannot be the answer to every human ill. Continuing to view more government as the solution to problems will only make matters worse.
* The message is always the same - government intrusion into our lives is way too much.
* Government is supposed to be there to protect property and protect privacy.
* I'm for the individual, I'm not for the government.
* We need time to think before we enact. The American people deserve at least this much from their Congress.
* The American people have NOT gotten the government they deserve. They asked for a stronger America and peace through nonintervention, yet we have a government of deceit, inaction and one that puts us in grave danger on the international front. The American People deserve much better than this. They deserve foreign and domestic policy that doesn't require they surrender their liberties.
* If the government was restrained within its proper Constitutional functions, it would be far better managed and much more readily would proper oversight occur.
* Only when the American people absolutely demand that the spending spree be stopped, will their representatives in Washington stop using this issue as a political football to score public relations points, and finally face-up to the fact that we are a nation in a very precarious financial position, which demands real spending cuts in order to avoid bankrupting our next generation.
* In modern Washington nothing is more misunderstood, and less appreciated, than the genius of republicanism. Presidents issue signing statements that effectively approve in part and reject in part, laws of the land even though there is no Constitutional provision for such a process. In addition, Congress cedes its powers at the crucial moment when a decision on whether or not a war is to be fought will be made, only to then criticize the effort it could have used its powers to stop.
* While our founding fathers were individual men in a historically unique situation, they posited that the principles upon which they rested our national independence were timeless.
* Only when Washington comes to understand that our founders expressly intended for our federal government to be limited in scope, will policy questions such as this be rightly understood. But that understanding will not come until the people demand their elected officials act in accordance with these principles.
* Only in Washington would anyone call the creation of an additional layer of bureaucracy on top of already bloated bureaucracies streamlining. Only in Washington would anyone believe that a bigger, more centralized federal government means more efficiency.
* Whenever something terrible happens, especially when it becomes a national news story, people reflexively demand that government do something. This impulse almost always leads to bad laws and the loss of liberty. It is completely at odds with the best American traditions of self-reliance and rugged individualism.
* Government, through its taxes, restrictive regulations, corporate subsidies, racial set-asides, and welfare programs, plays far too large a role in determining who succeeds and who fails in our society.
* Spendthrift politicians may love a system that generates more and more money for their special interest projects, but the rest of us have good reason to be concerned about our monetary system and the future value of our dollars.
* The mentality in Washington is simple: avoid hard choices at all costs; spend money at will; ignore deficits; inflate the money supply as needed; and trust that the whole mess somehow will be taken care of by unprecedented economic growth in the future.
* We seem to have forgotten that freedom means the absence of government coercion. So when politicians and the media celebrate political power, they really are celebrating the power of certain individuals to use coercive state force.
* To many politicians, the American government is America.
* If we hope to avoid a calamitous financial future for our nation, we must address the hardest question of all: What is the proper role for government in our society? The answer to this question will determine how prosperous and free we remain in the decades to come.
* Our basic problem is that we have lost sight of the simple premise that guided the actions of our founding fathers. That premise? The government that governs least is the government that governs best.
* The truth is that many politicians and voters essentially believe in a free lunch. They believe in a free lunch because they don't understand basic economics, and therefore assume government can spend us into prosperity. This is the fallacy that pervades American politics today.
* For government, the federal budget is essentially a credit card with no spending limit, billed to somebody else. We hardly should be surprised that Congress racks up huge amounts of debt! By contrast, responsible people restrain their borrowing because they will have to pay the money back. It's time for American taxpayers to understand that every dollar will have to be repaid.
* These abuses were inevitable, unfortunately. They are the direct result of a top-down, centralized, bureaucratic system that wrongly assumes Washington planners always know best, that every issue and problem should be addressed at the federal level.
* It's not compassionate simply to throw money at a problem, especially when that money is wasted and does not help the very people who need it most. It's not compassionate for politicians to spend money that doesn't belong to them. It's not compassionate to instill false hope that Washington can solve every problem and respond to every emergency. It's certainly not compassionate to create huge deficits that hurt poor people the most through inflation, as government prints more and more money to pay its bills.
* The notion that an all-powerful, centralized state should provide monolithic solutions to the ethical dilemmas of our times is not only misguided, but also contrary to our Constitution.
* The only effective way to address corruption is to change the system itself, by radically downsizing the power of the federal government in the first place. Take away the politicians' power and you take away the very currency of corruption.
* We need to get money out of government. Only then will money not be important in politics. It's time to reconsider exactly what we want the federal government to be in our society. So long as it remains the largest and most powerful institution in the nation, it will remain endlessly susceptible to corruption.
* Only in Washington DC can a spending increase be called a spending cut.
* No amount of spending will ever satisfy those who believe government should address every human problem and involve itself in every aspect of our lives.
* Arrogant is the only word to describe a Congress that cares so little about its own taxpaying citizens while pretending to know what is best for the world.
* The Constitution is written in plain, forthright text, and there is nothing mystical about it. It simply establishes a system of shared, limited power between the three branches of the federal government, while reserving most government power to the states themselves.
* The Constitution does not empower government and grant rights, it restricts government in order to safeguard preexisting rights. When federal courts disregard this principle, acting as legislatures or failing to enforce Constitutional limitations, we get the worst kind of unaccountable government.
* The present state of affairs is a direct result of our collective ignorance.
* If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way, we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom for this group or that, ask yourself whether he is advocating more government action or less.
* Every generation must resist the temptation to believe that it lives in the most dangerous time in American history.
* The Patriot Act, like every political issue, boils down to a simple choice: Should we expand government power, or reduce it? This is the fundamental political question of our day, but it's quickly forgotten by politicians who once promised to stand for smaller government.
* America will regain lost freedoms only when her citizens wake up and reclaim a national sense of self-reliance, individualism, and limited government. A handful of judges cannot save a nation from itself.
* The reality is that politics involves itself with us whether we like it or not. We can bury our heads in the sand and hope that things don't get too bad, or we can fight back when government treats us as its servant rather than its master.
* Who decides, the individual or the state? This is the central question in almost every political issue.
* Government cannot instill morality in the American people. On the contrary, rigid, centralized, government decision-making is indicative of an apathetic and immoral society. The greatest casualty of centralized government decision-making is personal liberty.
* I think people are starved for this message I have--limited government.
* A pro-life conscience is fostered by religion, family, and ethics, not government. History teaches us that governments overwhelmingly violate the sanctity of human life rather than uphold it.
* Few Americans understand that all government action is inherently coercive.
* If we hope to remain free, we must cut through the fog and attach concrete meanings to the words politicians use to deceive us. We must reassert that America is a republic, not a democracy, and remind ourselves that the Constitution places limits on government that no majority can overrule.
* Remember, government officials cannot be generous or charitable, because the money they dispense does not belong to them.
* Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don't like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives.
* It's easy to repeat the tired clich that tmes have changed since the Constitution was written in fact, that's an argument the left has used for decades to justify an unConstitutional welfare state. Yet if we accept this argument, what other principles from the founding era should we discard? Should we reject federalism? Habeas corpus? How about the Second Amendment?
* The problem is that government is not supposed to plan our lives or run the country; we are supposed to be free. That our public discourse strays so far from this principle is an unhappy sign of our times. Those who believe in limited Constitutional government should worry every time a politician says, 的 have a plan.
* Remember, there is a simple dictionary definition for government planning of the production and provision of goods and services: socialism.
* Giving more authority over social matters to any branch of the federal government is a mistake, because a centralized government is unlikely to reflect local sentiment for long.
* When capital remains in private hands, it is allocated to its most productive uses as determined by the choices of consumers in the market. Placing capital in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats inevitably results in inefficiencies, shortages, and economic crises, as even the best-intentioned politicians cannot know the most efficient use of resources.
* This is why we can never trust new bureaucratic programs: no matter how benevolent their proponents claim them to be, most programs morph into something much larger than originally foreseen. Those who view my concerns as alarmism fail to understand the inevitable nature of bureaucratic growth.
* American parents must do everything they can to remain responsible for their children's well-being. If we allow government to become intimately involved with our children's minds and bodies, we will have lost the final vestiges of parental authority. Strong families are the last line of defense against an overreaching bureaucratic state.
* Just as we must not allow terrorists to threaten our lives, we must not allow government to threaten our liberties.
* Our nation will be safer only when government does less, not more.
* More than anything, our federal government should stop deluding us that more government is the answer. We have far more to fear from an unaccountable government at home than from any foreign terrorist.
* Americans don't need new federal programs, and they certainly don't need more federal control over their schools. They don't need a disastrous government-run medical system. What Americans do need is a federal government that provides national defense, secures our borders, and does very little else.
* Those who signed the Declaration of Independence envisioned a nation based on the rule of law and the right of individuals to live their lives free from oppression. To a degree perhaps unimaginable to that band of radical idealists, their vision has come to pass over these two centuries.
* It is impossible to maintain a free society when more and more people look to the state to provide what Americans used to provide for themselves.
* The obvious lesson of September 11th is that government cannot protect us.
* Arrogant is the only word to describe a Congress that cares so little about its own taxpaying citizens while pretending to know what is best for the world.
* Government is not moral and cannot make us moral.
* Social problems cannot be solved by Constitutional amendments or government edicts.
* True conservatives and libertarians should understand that the solution to our moral and cultural decline does not lie in a strong centralized government.
* New laws are made in a haphazard manner; new regulations are imposed on an ad hoc basis; trillions of dollars are spent without regard to whether the programs and agencies funded do any good whatsoever. Both political parties blame each other for the resulting mess, but both are guilty of an egregious lack of principle in virtually everything they do.
* Both parties cite the Constitution when it suits their purposes, but both regularly violate it-- particularly through legislation that exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and tramples on states rights.
* A wise and consistent defense of liberty is more desperately needed today than any time in our history. Our foolish and inconsistent policies of the last 100 years have brought us to a critical junction, with the American way of life at stake. It is the foolish inconsistencies that we must condemn and abandon.
* When government ostensibly attempts to promote culture, it always further erodes liberty.
* Wealthy people will always seek to influence politicians, because government unfortunately plays a very big role in determining who gets (and stays) rich in our country. Our federal government has become a taxing, spending, and regulating leviathan that virtually controls the economy.
* We need to get money out of government; only then will money not be important in politics.
* America cannot impose its will upon every conflict around the globe. Lasting, effective peace agreements can be crafted only by those who will live under them.
* We owe our Founding Fathers a tremendous debt of gratitude. They created a society based on the radical idea that the purpose of government was to protect the rights of the individual, preexisting rights granted by God rather than the state. For the first time in human history, a government was designed to serve the individual, rather than vice versa.
* The principle of a servant government is the ideal that made America the greatest nation on earth.
* These are troubling questions raised by the latest assault on states' rights in Washington. The Ninth and Tenth amendments make it clear that under our federal system, states retain full authority to craft their own laws. The federal government has only limited, express powers, and therefore can preempt state laws only in a very narrow range of federal matters. But in imperial Washington, states have become nothing more than glorified counties.
* The greatest economic cost of war, however, comes from the expansion in the size and scope of government. Government always grows during wars and other crises.
* If we ever hope to enjoy real and lasting prosperity in this country, we must redefine our view of the proper role of government. It is tempting during difficult times to demand that the government "do something," but a free society is defined by what its government does not do.
* Americans now more than ever must trust the great Constitutional institutions that have served us well for more than 200 years. The separation of powers and rule of law are cornerstones. Remove them and our way of life will quickly crumble.
* Our society has become too focused on federal approaches to every perceived societal ill, while ignoring Constitutional limits on government.
* The debate in Washington tends to focus on which nations and companies should be subsidized, rather than whether American taxpayers should pay for trade subsidies at all.
* In the fight against big government, we should start by demanding that Congress abide by the Constitution and stop sending U.S. taxpayer funds overseas.
* Congress finds it much easier to federalize every human evil rather than uphold the Constitution and respect states' rights.
* We hear Congress talk about smaller government, but the size of the federal budget increases each year. Huge amounts of federal spending could be eliminated if Congress adhered to the limited enumerated powers listed in the Constitution.
* A free market economy requires that government keeps its hands off and allows the consumers to exert their rightful control over the economy.
* Government cannot be the answer to every human ill. Continuing to view more government as the solution to problems will only make matters worse.
* Politicians throughout history have tried to solve every problem conceivable to man, always failing to recognize that many of the problems we face result from previous so-called political solutions.
* At home I'm frequently asked about my frustration with Congress, since so many reform proposals go unheeded. I jokingly reply, "No, I'm never frustrated, because I have such low expectations."
* Nothing will change in Washington until it's recognized that the ultimate driving force behind most politicians is obtaining and holding power.
* We expect the government to manage monetary and economic policy, the medical system, and the educational system, and then wonder why we have problems with the cost and efficiency of all these programs.
* Government wrongdoing cannot be undone by more government wrongdoing.
* We don't need somebody in Washington telling us what we can do, because we don't have perfect knowledge. And that's the magnificence of our Constitution and our republic. We sort out the difficult problems at local levels, and we don't have, you know, one-case-fit- all.
* The more difficult an issue is, the more local the solution ought to be.
* When we make a mistake, it is the obligation of the people through their representatives to correct the mistake, not to continue the mistake.
* The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government.
* What I'd like to be is a president that doesn't even have a goal of running your life, running the economy, or running the world.
* The role of the president as Commander in Chief is to direct our armed forces in carrying out policies established by the American people through their representatives in Congress. He is not authorized to make those policies. He is an administrator, not a policy maker. Foreign policy, like all federal policy, must be made by Congress. To allow otherwise is to act in contravention of the Constitution.
* The job of the government is to provide liberty and protect liberty. The people are supposed to take care of themselves. Both in a personal way as well as in economic way. And we‘re not supposed to tell other countries how to live. That‘s what the Constitution dictates to us.
* Defending the country against aggression is a very limited and proper function of government. Our military involvement in the world over the past 60 years has not met this test, and we're paying the price for it.
* The biggest threat to your privacy is the government. We must drastically limit the ability of government to collect and store data regarding citizens’ personal matters.
* Do the American people really believe it's the government's responsibility to make us morally better and economically equal? Do we have a responsibility to police the world, while imposing our vision of good government on everyone else in the world with some form of utopian nation building? If not, and the contemporary enemies of liberty are exposed and rejected, then it behooves us to present an alternative philosophy that is morally superior and economically sound and provides a guide to world affairs to enhance peace and commerce.
* It was understood that an explicit transfer of power to government could only occur with power rightfully and naturally endowed to each individual as a God-given right.
* Ideas do have consequences. Bad ideas have bad consequences, and even the best of intentions have unintended consequences.
* The conflict of the ages has been between the state and the individual: central power versus liberty.
* The more restrained the state and the more emphasis on individual liberty, the greater has been the advancement of civilization and general prosperity.
* Power, politics and privilege prevail over the rule of law, liberty, justice and peace. But it does not need to be that way.
* Both sides of the political spectrum must one day realize that limitless government intrusion in the economy, in our personal lives and in the affairs of other nations cannot serve the best interests of America.
* Once enough of us decide we've had enough of all these so-called good things that the government is always promising more, when the country is broke and the government is unable to fulfill its promises to the people, we can start a serious discussion on the proper role for government in a free society.
* I don't want any assumption that the government owns our lives, because then they can own our libery and own our property. And unfortunately we're moving in that direction. I want to go in the other direction.
* I think the American public is tired of the iron fist approach to their lives!
* We don't need to depend on the federal government because it doesn't work.
* Without the Federal Reserve our money could not be inflated at the behest of big government or banks. Your income and savings would not lose their value.
* Failure of government programs prompt more deterimned efforts, while the loss of liberty is ignored or rationalized away.
* The moral and Constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
* When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.
* We have come to view the state as our protector and the solution to every problem.