If you’re unhappy that today’s political parties give lip service to equal rights as they busy themselves carving yours up and passing out the pieces, don’t blame me. I’m a Locofoco.

Some say The Sound of Music was corny, but for me it was an epiphany. It’s my favorite film, and it always will be.

Child labor was relieved of its worst attributes not by legislative fiat but by the progressive march of an ever more productive capitalist system.

To all those millions of Polish freedom fighters who ushered communism into the dustbin of history, thank you for your courage, your perseverance, your vision, and your example.

If citizens knew more about how their governments really worked and what they spent other people’s money on, it would not only make for better-informed citizens but for better (and hopefully less) government at the same time.

What amazing magical powers our benevolent government has! It stimulates when it spends, unlike what happens when the rest of us spend.

Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are waging a battle of ideas to win, not to make a living, bide our time, or go down with the ship with a smile on our faces.

If we had listened to the Indiana legislature in 1947, we might be several trillion dollars freer today.

Khmer Rouge Survivor and Academy Award Winner Haing Ngor Didn't Take Liberty for Granted. The sad ending to his story was his murder in Los Angeles in February 1996.

The lofty notion that individuals possess certain rights—definable, inalienable, and sacred—has been cheapened and mongrelized beyond anything our Founders would recognize. 

Have you ever noticed that the greatest book-burners in history have been governments, not private individuals?

Prior to the 1880s, “individualism” was a term of opprobrium in most quarters, referring to “the atomism and selfishness of liberal society.” The League appropriated the word and elevated its general meaning to one of respect for the rights and uniqueness of each person.

To waste time and money spreading myths and misconceptions about profits and private firms serves no one but selfish interests.

Two centuries ago, William Wilberforce showed us that one man can make a world rife with institutionalized corruption and inhumanity a better place.

I’ve always thought that if all that local governments did was keep the streets safe, the traffic moving, and the sewers flowing, they would have a full-time job on their hands.

Hollywood capitalists occasionally take a break from vilifying capitalism.

In his veto of the Texas Seed Bill, Cleveland warned against a general disregard of the “limited mission” of the federal government. He didn’t think Congress or the president should torture the Constitution until it confessed that disaster relief was among the responsibilities of Washington.

Give us no more czars! Give us no pharaohs, emperors, shoguns, sheikhs, sachems, commissars, or potentates of any kind! 

On one day, we learn that government failed horribly to accomplish its primary mission. A few days later, people who want to lead the nation tell us that we must send government more of our money and trust it more than ever with not only our lives, but just about everything else too. 

Remarks delivered at the 27th annual Heritage Foundation Resource Bank meeting in Chicago, June 21, 2004.