| "I
have little interest in streamlining government or in making it
more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake
to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not
to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs,
but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or
that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people
an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover
whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether
it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked
for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I
was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause
I am doing the very best I can."
Former Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), The Conscience
of a Conservative |