P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government... the only effective cure is to reduce the scope of government - get government out of the business.

There is hardly a facet of life that is now free of some sort of federal action.

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.

What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government shall do everything and the idea that government shall do nothing.

Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from birth what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government to do good.

My family is just like most other families - we rise and fall on good and bad government policy. Politics affects us all.

A little government involvement is just as dangerous as a lot - because the first leads inevitably to the second.

I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful - but also very harmful to our society.

Conservatives say the government can't end poverty by force, but they believe it can use force to make people moral. Liberals say government can't make people be moral, but they believe it can end poverty. Neither group attempts to explain why government is so clumsy and destructive in one area but a paragon of efficiency and benevolence in the other.

In our current frame of mind, or paradigm, or whatever you want to call it, we like to think that marshalling government policy is the way to get things done.

Government should steer, not row.

Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example.

We're one of the most highly regulated industries, and we have to pay attention to what government is doing.

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

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.

If you want to change the way your banking system is regulated, if you want to learn the mistakes of what's gone wrong, then you have to change your government.

We have seen a central government taking more and more control over public education, over communications, over transportation, over every detail of our daily lives.

The new rage is to say that the government is the cause of all our problems, and if only we had no government, we'd have no problems. I can tell you, that contradicts evidence, history, and common sense.

Just because there is a market failure, doesn’t mean there is a government solution.

A government role in our society should be inherently suspect …. There is something inherently coercive in the nature of government.

Can government really be active and, at the same time, limited? History suggests otherwise.

Government has always driven growth.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it

The Conservative party is at its strongest when it's not the party that says there is no role for government and the state should just get out of the way. That is not a strand of Conservative thinking that, by itself, is enough.

Everybody wants the world to be a better place, and some think that government actions can bring that about. But they don't take into consideration that government actions can often do more harm than good.