And on environmental issues he [her friend and Treasury official, Nick Ridley] was incomparably rational. He would not adopt a burdensome regulation or make an expensive commitment of public money simply because a newspaper or a pressure group had asserted that is was the ‘green’ thing to do. He always asked such questions as: What benefits will it bring? How much will it cost? How solid is the scientific evidence underlying this claim? Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher, Times Newspapers Limited, March 7, 1993
I’d rather explore a thousand theories that AREN’T right, rather than miss the correct theory, merely because I didn’t look at all the possibilities. Unknown
…a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles…is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and keep a government free. Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past. Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry, March, 1775
Small men seeking great wealth or power have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of public service into mere personal opportunity. Barry Goldwater
U.S. Senator, 1964 (1909-1998)
That statement was made under oath. I personally don’t think it was truthful. Rich Boucher
U.S. Democratic Representative Rich Boucher, on President Clinton, Wall Street Journal, January 8, 1999
Back when the great society – when the war on poverty began, which poverty won – from 1965 to 1980 – in those 15 years, the federal budget increased to five times what it had been in O65. And the deficit increased to 38 times what it had been just 15 years before. ItOs built-in, itOs structural. And you and I need to get representatives not only in the Executive Branch, but out there in the legislature, so that we can change that structure that is so built-in, and that threatens us with so much harm. Ronald Reagan
President, Feb 11, 1988 [And cutting taxes does not cause deficits: Federal Revenues in 1980: $517.1 billion. Federal Revenues in 1989: $990 billion (Congressional Budget Office). Revenues almost doubled, but spending increased by even more.]
If we do not halt this steady process of building commissions and regulatory bodies and special legislation like huge inverted pyramids over every one of the simple constitutional provisions, we shall soon be spending many billions of dollars more. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 2, 1930, announcing the budget had reached $3.5 Billion (32nd President of the United States, 1882-1945)