John J. McLaughlin Quotes

Capitalism’s intrinsic dynamism, however, produces insecurity along with benefits and so its advance has always met resistance…. It was only the creation of the modern welfare state in the middle of the 20th century that finally enabled capitalism and democracy to coexist in relative harmony.

Paternalism is the method of government activism most amenable to an impoverished public sector.

I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom.

Our economic freedom is founded on individual property rights; government should never be permitted to take those away.

I'm worried about that man or woman sitting around - the coffee table tonight or in their kitchen talking about how are we going to get to work. How are we going to have the dignity to take care of our family.

Big government doesn't help the middle class, it buries it.

In this country protection has always, to some extent, existed; but at some times it has been efficient, and at others not; and our tendency toward freedom or slavery has always been in the direct ratio of its efficiency or inefficiency.

South Korea's economy is still difficult. I will create a country where nobody worries about putting food on the table.

The realities of the modern global economy require government to play a substantial role in ensuring the national and economic security of the people.

Political freedom can be inimical to economic freedom.

A nation that expects the government to prevent churches from burning, to control the price of bread or gasoline, to secure every job, and to find some villain for every dramatic accident risks an even larger loss of life and liberty.

I have got to lay a foundation of personal security for the working people of this country and their families in order to succeed as your president.

A New Dealer regrets poverty and deplores the fact that it is necessary for society to slough off its misfits as an individual sheds his impurities and his diseases. But New Dealers believe that human want and human distress should be prevented or at least ameliorated.

The economy cannot be run in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum: the state has its role to play, guaranteeing personal freedom, a stable currency, and efficient public services

One of the things that made the marriage between liberty and popular sovereignty possible was the welfare state. Democracy has three parts. It has liberty, it has popular sovereignty, and it has a social safety net as well

Markets don’t always self-correct fast enough. Until they do there is an immense amount of damage that has been done which is why we need government intervention.

Working people of this country want economic security. The worst possible thing you can do for those families is bust the public finances, have some welfare system this country can't afford.

Top-down government programs threaten to limit the freedom and opportunity that made this country great.

We cannot realize financial reconstruction and enhance social security without a strong economy.

The stabilizing influence of the modern social welfare state emerged only after World War II, nearly 200 years on from the 18th-century beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.

If you give everybody a good government job, there's no crime.

There is much in American society which I admire, but I have long held the view that the absence of an effective safety net in that country means that too many needy citizens fall by the wayside. That is not the path that Australia will tread. Nor do we want the burdens of nanny state paternalism that now weigh down many economies in Europe.

We have to create security for the working families of Britain, and that's what I'll do

There is no virtue in denying the law of gravity, and there should be no virtue in denying the limitations of government. ... The more we glorify government, the more liberties we will lose.

It is difficult for me to imagine what “personal liberty” is enjoyed by an unemployed hungry person. True freedom can only be where there is no exploitation and oppression of one person by another; where there is not unemployment, and where a person is not living in fear of losing his job, his home and his bread. Only in such a society personal and any other freedom can exist for real and not on paper.