If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate. If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.

Joseph Sobran
About This Quote

The basic idea behind this quote is that if you believe that government should play a role in the daily lives of its citizens, you are a liberal. If you believe that government should only act internationally, you are a conservative. If you want to take away government's ability to intervene anywhere, you are an extremist.

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More Quotes By Joseph Sobran
  1. By today’s standards King George III was a very mild tyrant indeed. He taxed his American colonists at a rate of only pennies per annum. His actual impact on their personal lives was trivial. He had arbitrary power over them in law and in principle...
  2. If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate. If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.
  3. At the end of a century that has seenthe evils of communism, Nazism and other modern tyrannies, the impulse to centralize power remains amazingly persistent.
  4. When your child is a little older, you can teach him about our tax system in a way that is easy to grasp. Offer him, say, $10 to mow the lawn. When he has mowed it and asks to be paid, withhold $5 and explain...
  5. Need' now means wanting someone else's money. 'Greed' means wanting to keep your own. 'Compassion' is when a politician arranges the transfer.
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