John Redwood Quotes

The Kochs, like many other hard-right conservatives, redefine "socialism" as almost any form of government which taxes citizens and regulates businesses.

Liberals believe government should take people's earnings to give to poor people. Conservatives disagree. They think government should confiscate people's earnings and give them to farmers and insolvent banks.

The Tea Party folks may be sincere, loyal citizens, but their notions about how the economy works are exactly that: mere notions. Their core notion is that government needs to do nothing more than get out of the way of business in order for the economy to boom and bloom.

President Reagan was elected on the promise of getting government off the backs of the people and now he demands that government wrap itself around the waists of the people.

Republicans believe largely in the market working, Democrats believe stereotypically that you've got to give people something. So why not give people a chance to let the market work for them.

Conservatives brayed that government should stay out of the private sector; liberals bleated for nationalizing the banks.

It is really quite amazing that all of the folks supporting privatization, from the president on down, keep invoking the name of my grandfather, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Just as the left has to be more willing to question 'Government knows best,' the right has to rethink its laissez-faire attitude toward government.

My opponents attitude is, 'If it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving, regulate it and when it stops, subsidize it.

In these difficult times, when tough decisions are required, the differences between Labour and the Tories are becoming much clearer. One party believes in intervention to reduce social and economic costs and the other believes in market forces and letting things take their course.

For small businesses, you need less taxes, less federal spending, and you need less regulation that blocks their growth.

If you feel the government should leave you alone, you're a Republican. If you think the job of the government is to go push people around and take things for you, then you're a Democrat.

I am not someone who tends to advocate for increased government involvement in the private sector.

Conservatives should be in power [only] when the country has no problems.

Less Government in Business and More Business in Government

The left’s reflex is that if something is good then the government ought to provide it, and some conservatives are falling into the left’s political trap.

Nationalizing businesses, nationalizing banks, is not a solution for the democratic party, it's the objective.

As a conservative myself that, you know, generally I would have a point of view that less regulation is better than more regulation, but less regulation shouldn't supersede a tax on the fundamentally important institutions that sustain a democratic republic.

Government intervention only hurts; it doesn't help.

You can't be for big government, big taxes and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy.

Deregulation is a transfer of power from the trodden to the treading. It is unsurprising that all conservative parties claim to hate big government.

The media has brainwashed the electorate to expect the government to do something. The best economic policy of any government is to do nothing but reduce the size of the government, reduce the size of the laws, and reduce the size of regulations.

Conservatives want smaller government. They want to focus on market-based solutions wherever one can. They want to have as little regulation as possible. But in general, they recognize that government must play an important role for a society to operate.

Government can encourage innovation, but mainly by doing less, not doing more.

It's often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census.