I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to exist, then it would choose the American system.

A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it, too. But the government won’t allow it.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‚Present‘ or ‚Not guilty.‘

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

I’m the only president you’ve got.

I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States.

Politically, the world is so confused right now – there’s so much suffering caused by various movements by various parties and people in power in government.

Taxation is just a sophisticated way of demanding money with menaces.

When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there’s no question about it.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we – we own this country. We – we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

We know what works. Freedom Works. We know what’s right. Freedom is right.

We must have government that builds stamina into communities and men. That makes men instead of mendicants.

The government argues that First Amendment rights are outweighed by the need to prosecute those who transmit classified information and documents.

People forget… that we structured it so that the government, or the people, would be repaid with a really good rate of return. And as it turns out, that aspect of TARP, that’s what happened.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

We need to understand that we as citizens and as a government in any community throughout this country have no more important obligation than to educate those who are going to replace us.

Governments don’t control people like they used to.

Since I’m the president and Democrats have controlled the House and the Senate, it’s understandable that people are saying, you know, ‚What have you done?‘

So far as the government is concerned, there is only one holy book, which is the constitution of India. My government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples‘ money.

Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and aeroplanes, is part of the ideology of the machine age.

Withdrawal of American troops must be a unilateral act, as the invasion of Vietnam by the American government was a unilateral act in the first place.

The example that America knows how to govern itself is one of the compelling aspects of our national security.

Well, no one gives aid to Zimbabwe through the Mugabe government.

I never accepted Communist dogma or theory.

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can’t be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they’re not getting some other matter.

The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.

The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.

It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics.

Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception.

Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.

Artists have a responsibility to speak and to act when governments fail, and if we don’t do that, we really deserve the world we get.

You can’t get a contemporary story about what is going on inside government, and how society sees itself, on American TV.

The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy – the one that’s absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes.

The IRS! They’re like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!

What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don’t like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don’t expect freedom to survive very long.

By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

Antitrust is the way that the government promotes markets when there are market failures. It has nothing to do with the idea of free information.

I try to speak plainly so that my constituents who don’t follow the nuances of government like I do, because they’re too busy earning a real living, can understand the issues before me. None of this stuff is brain surgery.

One of the roles of the Presidency is to lead a political party. Having a President in office is usually a huge advantage to a party because it gives the party a mouthpiece and an advocate at the highest level.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read ‚Democracy in America‘ by Alexis de Tocqueville. There can never be a better book than that one on the strengths and vulnerabilities inherent in our form of government.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

I’m interested in what motivates individuals to participate in atrocious acts to support their ideological identification.

I’ve studied authoritarianism for a very long time – for 40 years – and they’re started by people’s attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory.

I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people’s trust in their government.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

The FBI should not be a political body.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Empire and liberty.

Ninety-nine percent of the men and women of the FBI… are just professionals. I don’t want Americans, if an FBI agent knocks on their door, to have to be worried about well, is he a Democrat or a Republican? He’s an FBI agent.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

You know we’re going to control the insurance companies.