Franklin (Lyn) Nofziger, who heads Nofziger Communications, a consulting and government relations firm, is a long-time Reagan insider and served as press secretary and later assistant to the president for political affairs during the Reagan administration.
His words have particular meaning this election year.
Quoted in the
11/9/99 issue of the Federalist Digest:
These things I believe: That government should butt out. That freedom
is our most precious commodity and if we are not eternally vigilant
government will take it all away. That individual freedom demands
individual responsibility. That government is (contrary to George W.
Bush) not a necessary good but an unavoidable evil. That the executive
branch has grown too strong, the judicial branch too arrogant and the
legislative branch too stupid. That political parties have become
close to meaningless. That government should work to insure the rights
of the individual, not plot to take them away. That government should
provide for the national defense and work to insure domestic
tranquillity. That foreign trade should be fair rather than free. That
America should be wary of foreign entanglements. That the tree of
liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of
patriots and tyrants. That guns do more than protect us from
criminals; more importantly, they protect us from the ongoing threat
of government. That states are the bulwark of our freedom. That states
should have the right to secede from the Union. That once a year we
should hang someone in government as an example to his fellows.
–Lyn Nofziger