Harold Stassen Quotes

The American people believe that we ought to control our government. On the other hand, we've seen government more and more controlling us

Liberty does not exist where rights are on one side and power on the other. To be liberty, rights must be armed with vital powers. A people cannot be free who do not participate in the control of the government which operates upon them.

You know, if government were a product, selling it would be illegal. Government is a health hazard. Governments have killed many more people than cigarettes or unbuckled seat belts ever have.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

The central issue of our time - of all times - is the size, power and scope of government.

This is a country for, of, and by the people not for, of, and by the government. If we turn it over to them we cannot complain about what they're doing because this is a natural course of men and we have to hold their feet to the fire.

The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.

This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions for every American in every area.

Government is not a bottom line enterprise. You can get yourself elected ... but you can't fire the legislature if they won't do what you want.

History does not furnish a single instance of a government once established, voluntarily yielding up its powers to secure the rights and liberties of the people.

Every amendment which I am convinced will have the tendency to lesson the danger of civil liberty by the central government will receive my sincere approbation.

The role of government is, I believe, the most potent but underappreciated cultural issue in American politics.

Let us alone. Government is at best a rude, unwieldy and bungling machine; it is an evil, although a necessary evil...

People have increasingly come to regard the government as a source of rights rather than as a defender of pre-existing individual rights.

I am going to make Washington as irrelevant to your lives as possible

Government has much wider dimensions than merely managing an economy.

...nations have no command over their governments, & in fact no influence over them, except of a fleeting & rather ineffectual sort.

All the existing governments of the world are there for the avowed purpose of safeguarding the sovereign rights of the nations they rule or serve, and there is no one of them that could make surrender of these without being immediately hurled from power by the political forces behind it.

Of course we should have only the government we need. But we must insist on all the government we need.

If people cannot limit government they will not for long be free.

Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.

Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.

I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses.

We must guard against the overreaching hand of big government trying to take away our freedom. And we must always protect the environment in a manner consistent with our values.

Let's say there are 500 sons and daughters like you in each state. Then we could control the government.