What is government?

What is government? 

That is a good question, and in light of rising discontent with our current provincial government in British Columbia, I found it interesting that some one sent the following to me the other day. They are the quotes of some very wise people, some from long in the past, and some from our own time.

All have spoken truth as to what government should be, but often times is not.

Government can be dictatorial – even in a democracy ... but above all else government, one that is based on democratic principles, should be accountable to the people who elect it.

Given the decline in support for Christy Clark, and the BC Liberal government she heads, I'll leave it to you to decide how many of the following are fitting for the government we currently have.

I have added one quote to those I received, and it is one I begin with it. 

It is a quote from (W.A.C.) William Andrew Cecil Bennett.  Bennett was the premier of our great province from 1952 to 1972, and a man who many people either loved and admired – or passionately hated. He was usually referred to as W.A.C. Bennett, others called him "Wacky" Bennett.

While this first quote is in reference to Canada ... I believe it is just as fitting a thought for our own province.

We are a young country; we must build on the solid rock of sound economic policies and balanced budgets. But, we must be prepared, as a nation, to step from the solid rock onto new ground. The path of ease, the path of tradition alone, is not the path of a greater Canada ~~ W.A.C. Bennett

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress ~~ John Adams

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed ~~ Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself ~~ Mark Twain

I 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

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul ~~ George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money ~~ G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner ~~ James Bovard

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries ~~ Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys ~~ P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else ~~ Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it ~~ Ronald Reagan

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts ~~ Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! ~~ PJ. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other ~~ Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! ~~ Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session ~~ Mark Twain

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it ~~ Anonymous

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other ~~ Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery ~~ Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin ~~ Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools ~~ Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly native American criminal class...save Congress ~~ Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians ~~ Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have ~~ Thomas Jefferson

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with thoughts which I believe we need to consider over the next 14 months, as we make our way to the next provincial election in 2013.