Paternalism Quotes

• The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their government, its functions do not include the support of the people.

  Grover Cleveland

  Government, People, Support

  Inaugural Address, 4 March 1893

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• There can be no doubt that our Nation has had a long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination. Traditionally, such discrimination was rationalized by an attitude of "romantic paternalism" which, in practical effect, put women, not on a pedestal, but in a cage.

  William J. Brennan

  Sex, Attitude, Long

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• Libya is a war of the womb. A product of the romantic minds of women who fantasize about an Arab awakening. It is estrogen-driven paternalism on steroids.

  Ilana Mercer

  War, Mind, Awakening

  "Libya: a War of the Womb". www.wnd.com. April 08, 2011.

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  The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.

  John Stuart Mill

  War, Power, Libertarian Party

  On Liberty ch. 1 (1859)

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• People still have a choice, but, if they find it all too confusing, or they just want someone else to make a choice for them, there's a default that works pretty well. That's this concept of libertarian paternalism. And it's handy.

  Esther Dyson

  People, Choices, Confusing

  "After Banner Decade, Peering in on the Future of Technology". "PBS NewsHour" with Judy Woodruff, www.pbs.org. January 3, 2010.

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• A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.

  Grover Cleveland

  Government, People, Justice

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• [M]ore than they wanted freedom, the Athenians wanted security. Yet they lost everything-security, comfort, and freedom. This was because they wanted not to give to society, but for society to give to them. The freedom they were seeking was freedom from responsibility. It is no wonder, then, that they ceased to be free. In the modern world, we should recall the Athenians' dire fate whenever we confront demands for increased state paternalism.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Responsibility, Fate, Giving

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• Is there any possibility of getting the super Welfare State's honey and avoiding the sting?

  C. S. Lewis

  Honey, Welfare, Possibility

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• The question about progress has become the question whether we can discover any way of submitting to the worldwide paternalism of a technocracy without losing all personal privacy and independence. Is there any possibility of getting the super Welfare State's honey and avoiding the sting?

  C. S. Lewis

  Independence, Progress, Honey

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• We may as well face the fact, and face it squarely, that we are too much governed. The agencies of government have multiplied, their ramifications extended, their powers enlarged, and their sphere widened, until the whole system is top-heavy. We are drifting into dangerous and insidious paternalism, submerging the self-reliance of the citizen, and weakening the responsibility and stifling the initiative of the individual. We suffer not from too little legislation but from too much. We need fewer enactments and more repeals.

  Roland H. Hartley

  Responsibility, Agency, Government

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• The politics of that year [2004] are old now, but the problem remains the same, the real culture clash of American life. It's between the essence of fundamentalism - paternalism, authority, and charity - and the messy imperatives of democracy, "the din of the vox populi" once derided by Abram Vereide. It's the difference between false unity, preached from above, and real solidarity, pledged between brothers and sisters - the kinds who are always bickering.

  Jeff Sharlet

  Brother, Real, Essence

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• There is a perversion, much practised in Hollywood movies, that might be called sado-paternalism, whereby a surrogate father treats a gifted but difficult pupil with derision and constant punishment. The aim is to bring out the best in the victim and to make him into a he-man or...a he-woman.

  Philip French

  Father, Men, Hollywood

  "The Guardian" by Philip French, www.theguardian.com. October 14, 2006.

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• The question is whether NGOs that bring protection or aid or reparation therapies are furthering the possibility of self-determination or extending a form of managerial power and paternalism.

  Judith Butler

  Determination, Self, Protection

  Interview With Cihan Aksan, Jon Bailes, www.counterpunch.org. October 11, 2013.

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• The spiritual destiny of Hawaii has been shaped by a Calvinist theory of paternalism enacted by the descendants of the missionaries who had carried it there: a will to do good for unfortunates regardless of what the unfortunates thought about it.

  Francine du Plessix Gray

  Spiritual, Destiny, Hawaii

  Francine Du Plessix Gray (1973). “Hawaii: The Sugar-Coated Fortress”

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• The solution to our problems is not more paternalism, laws, decrees, and controls, but the restoration of liberty and free enterprise, the restoration of incentives, to let loose the tremendous constructive energies of 300 million Americans.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Law, Liberty, Incentives

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• A Progressive is one who is in favor of more taxes instead of less, more bureaus and jobholders, more paternalism and meddling, more regulation of private affairs and less liberty. In general, he would be inclined to regard the repeal of any tax as outrageous.

  H. L. Mencken

  Liberty, Would Be, Favors

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• I have to come to terms with the paternalism of American business. Companies are expected to take on so many social responsibilities which are the province of the state in Europe.

  Nick Denton

  Responsibility, Europe, Social

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• The truth is that the materialistic paternalism of the present day, if allowed to go on unchecked, will rapidly make of America one huge "Main Street," where spiritual adventure will be discouraged and democracy will be regarded as consisting in the reduction of all mankind to the proportions of the narrowest and least gifted of the citizens. God grant that there may come a reaction, and that the great principles of Anglo-Saxon liberty may be rediscovered before it is too late!

  John Gresham Machen

  Spiritual, Adventure, America

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• 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.

  John Howard

  Country, Fall, Mean

  Australia Day Address, January 25, 2006.

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• We should know why paternalism, collectivism, or unnecessary federal supervision will hold our standard of living down and reduce productivity just as it has in every country where it has been tried. We should also know why the communist leaders consider socialism the highroad to communism.

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Country, Communist Leaders, Down And

  Ezra Taft Benson (1974). “God, family, country: our three great loyalties”

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