20th Century Quotes about Socialism

The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money. Margaret Thatcher

We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill (1903)

On speaking about communism: “We pretend to work; they pretend to pay us.” Vladimir Voinovich

There are severe limits to the good that the government can do for the economy, but there are almost no limits to the harm it can do. Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. Robert A. Heinlein

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of many by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away mans initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. Attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but actually penned by William J. H. Boetcker

There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it, A politician who portrays himself as “caring” and “sensitive” because he wants to expand the Government’s charitable programs is merely saying that he’s willing to try to do good with other people’s money. Well, who isn’t? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he’ll do good with his own money – if a gun is held to his head. P. J. O’Rourke

Government’s view of the economy should be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. Ronald Reagan (1986)

Government IS The Problem Ronald Reagan

If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves. Thomas Sowell (1992)

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened. Norman Thomas – Socialist Party Presidential candidate (1948)

No republic has long outlived the discovery by a majority of its people that they could vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. Alexander Tytler