Henry Hazlitt Quotes
If there is to be no loss whatever of dignity or self-respect in getting and staying on relief, then there can be no gain in dignity or self-respect in makings some sacrifices to keep off.
Hazlitt, Henry. The Conquest of Poverty. Arlington House, 1973, p. 110.
It was finally passed and signed into law on August 22, 1996
This statement was a total reverse of his predecessor’s policy. Hoover stubbornly refused to consider any direct relief for workers on the philosophical ground that it would weaken their character, make them dependent, and provide benefits for the people who were not working so the motivation to work would be lessened. When FDR pronounced this on the radio, it dramatically reversed U. S. policy and gave many people hope that the government might do something about the depression rather than just wait out the business cycle.
What makes this a noteworthy political quotation is that when he made the statement, his party had lurched to the radical right and almost no one else in the Republican party would publicly say that the Federal Government had any legitimate role that involved social services, food distribution, welfare or health care. Also the Republican Presidential candidate the day before had been discovered writing off the poorest 43 percent of the country. Heller however, was up for reelection in a state what was hit much harder than most in the Great Recession and without Federal Assistance many state residents would be in terrible circumstances and Heller would not fare well in the election if he took the then required Republican ideology. Also, Heller came from a blue collar family and had a much different outlook than most Republicans of that particular time.
Henry Stuart Hazlitt was an American journalist who wrote about business and economics for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times.
