Bret Stephens Quotes

The conservative idea is not that government has no role. You might have argued that in the thirties when conservatives opposed the New Deal.

Folks know that while I respect Barack Obama and do not cheap-shot the president, I am very skeptical of his big government, nanny-state philosophy.

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.

Our funding is based on our support of ideas like limited government, individual rights and a strong defense.

Conservatives sometimes forget that limiting government is not an end in itself but a means to a better society.

I'm a Conservative. I don't believe there should be too many rules. There should be lower taxes.

The way I look at it is this, as Republicans, we look for less government interference in our lives.

And my principles go right in line with the Tea Party.

There's room in the Republican Party for anyone who wants to be a part of the values that we espouse when it comes to the role of government, free enterprise, free markets.

I think that this liberal progressive agenda is not the thing that the American people want and it's antithesis to who we are as a constitutional republic.

I'm a confirmed Libertarian. I believe that the principal difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats just want to grow our Imperial Federal Government a bit faster than the Republicans do.

The Chodorov Principle: For every social problem A caused by government program X, problem A can be solved by abolishing program X.

But those who believe that what our people desire is big government are living in a state of delusion.

I eat and breathe small government and freedom.

At its core, conservatism is not an anti-government movement, and it's not a no-government movement.

I am a strong believer in small government that doesn't interfere in people's lives.

Real conservatives are in favour of all kinds of unelected power and authority.

I think it's very clear that the American people are frustrated with this move toward socialism. And so whether you're back or white, if you believe that the conservative construct is in the best interest of our future, than you too would be voting with Republicans, and if you had the opportunity to run you'd join us as well.

Well, look, I'm as Tea Party as it gets.

The Tea Party claims to want small government.

The Tea Party is simply a loose description of local activism driven by Americans who want smaller government and more self-reliance. That sounds like what the Founding Fathers had in mind, does it not?

Libertarians are essentially what the Republicans were 30 years ago. Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan. They'd all fit more under the Libertarian label than the modern day Republican label.

I have a lot of conservative views on a lot of things.

I'm not a knee-jerk conservative. I passionately believe in free markets and less government, but not to the point of being a libertarian.

At home, we must reject the mistaken notion - a notion that has dominated too much of the public dialogue for too long - that ever bigger Government is the answer to every problem.