Political Axioms

‘If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.’
- Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress…. But then I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
- Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
- G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
- Douglas Casey

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
- P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

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.
- Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don’t make jokes… I just watch the government and report the facts.
- Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, WA it until you see what it costs when it’s free!
- P.J. O’Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
- Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics
Doesn’t mean Politics won’t take an interest in you!
- Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
- Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it.
- Unknown

The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal: a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
- Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
- Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
- Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class….save Congress.
- Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
- Edward Langley, Artist (1928 – 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
- Thomas Jefferson