Mark Latham Quotes

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence; Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.

If the private sectors are about markets and the public sectors are about governments, then the plural sector is about communities.

A lot of the differences between left and right now are differences about the liberal welfare state, about a set of institutions established in America in the middle of the 20th century … that exist in pursuit of an egalitarian ideal.

It is impossible to objectively define how free a market is. This is a political definition. Government is always involved, and those free marketers are as politically motivated as anyone.

Nanny states are interested in social order. Daddy states are interested in public order.

If the Democratic Party is to win in November, it will have to fly with both its wings—the liberal and the conservative.

The role of government is to encourage—not discourage.

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.

I believe in markets before mandates.

The government playing entrepreneur is not a good role for the government.

Whereas the Conservatives aimed at dealing with this problem by protection and the Liberal solution proceeded on the lines of seeking to free industry, as far as possible.

For the left, an obsession with the state. For the right, a worship of the market. But as liberals, we place our faith in people. People with power and opportunity in their hands. Our opponents try to divide us with their outdated labels of left and right. But we are not on the left and we are not on the right. We have our own label: Liberal. We are liberals and we own the freehold to the centre ground of British politics. Our politics is the politics of the radical centre. We are governing from the middle, for the middle.

The trouble with the social-democratic state is that, when government does too much, nobody else does much of anything.

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

A healthy society rests on three pillars: business, government and civil society, or non-profits. Each has a distinct and important role to play, and all three need to work together synergistically to create the most value for society.

Americans have learned to trust free markets. Republican or Democrat, we believe the unimpeded exchange of goods and services will yield better solutions than five-year plans set by even the most well-meaning public servants.

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 do not believe that the government is in any position to say exactly how every single business and every single activity shall reach those performances.

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.

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

We see government's mission as fostering and enabling the important realms - our businesses, service clubs, Little Leagues, churches - to flourish.

Indeed, a major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.

Government has a legitimate sphere of operation. The problem arises when that sphere continually expands, encompassing areas where government lacks legitimacy.