Mike Lee Quotes

Our founders insisted that protecting the states' power to govern themselves was vital to limit the power of Washington and preserve freedom.

The Framers (of the Constitution) were not concerned primarily with favoring one type of government over another, but with limiting the power of government, regardless of its source.

We are not at liberty to add one jot of power to the national government beyond what the people have granted by the constitution

The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded.

Power's not what the Constitution was about.

The Constitution was framed fundamentally as a bulwark against governmental power.

That's what the American system is all about: to keep power divided.

Our devotion to individual freedom limits our readiness to give central government the power to override our traditional power structure.

The framers of our Constitution didn’t trust unlimited power.

Governing through federal ultimatum grates against our history, traditions, and, most importantly, our Constitution.

If the Tenth Amendment were still taken seriously, most of the federal government's present activities would not exist. That's why no one in Washington ever mentions it.

My goal was to make New Jersey's state government a model for all other states to emulate, hopefully thereby to stem, or at least slow down, the flow of power to the federal government.

But again, you know, the views that we've expressed are transferring power back from the federal government to the states, giving Alaska an incredible opportunity to expand its economy, especially at a time when our federal government is coming close to bankruptcy. So that is a broad-based appeal. It's not an extreme view.

The American Constitution is the greatest governing document, and at some 7,000 words, just about the shortest.

The basis, the corner-stone of this Government, was the perfect equality of the free, sovereign, and independent States which made it.

And I think we as a people need to stop being disingenuous about what the Constitution provides for. It does not provide for this all-encompassing power that we've seen exercised over the last several decades. It's what's gotten us into this bankrupt position.

In our system of democracy, our government works on a system of checks and balances. Instead of stripping power from the courts, I believe we should follow the process prescribed in our Constitution - consideration of a Constitutional amendment.

There's a lot of the Midwest and the West in Justice Rehnquist's approach to constitutional law. And by that I mean a recognition that people know pretty well how to govern themselves, that government that is closest to the people is apt to be more responsive to their legitimate concerns and needs.

Make no mistake about it. These are not 'kookie' birds. Right now the greatest player, the big tent on the political scene in America, is called the Tea Party movement.

I think the federal government should be doing only what the Constitution says it should be. We don't have authority under the federal Constitution to have a big federal criminal justice system.

The Constitution was the expression not only of a political faith, but also of political fears. It was wrought both as the organ of the national interest and as the bulwark of certain individual and local rights.

The Constitution in all its provisions looks to an indestructible union disposed of indestructible States.

The Democrats have come right out and said it: the power of the central government shall have no limits at all.

Now is the time for all Alaskans to come together and reach out with our core message of taking power from the federal government and bringing it back home to the people.

I believe that Americans should be deeply skeptical of government power. You cannot trust people in power. The founders knew that. That's why they divided power among three branches, to set interest against interest.