Who wrote, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."?

1) Gerald Ford (14 July 1913 – 26 December 2006) , the 38th President of the United States.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
Presidential address to a joint session of Congress (12 August 1974)
Ford has also been quoted as having made a similar statement many years earlier, as a representative to the US Congress: "If the government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have."
"If Elected, I Promise…" : Stories and Gems of Wisdom by and About Politicians (1960) p. 193"
Source:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford


2) Misattributed to Thomas Jefferson:
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
Commonly quoted on many websites, this quotation is actually from Gerald Ford's August 12th, 1974 address to Congress."
Source:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson


3) Misattributed to Barry Goldwater:
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
Gerald Ford in a Presidential address to a joint session of Congress (12 August 1974)
Ford has also been quoted as having made a similar statement many years earlier, as a representative to the US Congress: "If the government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have."
"If Elected, I Promise…" : Stories and Gems of Wisdom by and About Politicians (1960) p. 193
Unsourced variants attributed to Goldwater include:
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.
Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.
This quote has also been attributed to Davy Crockett and is consistent with his very-limited-government philosophy. "
Source:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater


4) Misattributed to Ronald Reagan:
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
Actually said by Gerald Ford, this is also sometimes attributed to Barry Goldwater. Paraphrased variant: A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything you have."
Source:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan

Gerald Ford, August 12, 1974 said this in an address to congress.

it is sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson but there is no proof he ever said it.

http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Government_big_enough_to_supply_you


peace

Normally attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but it was famously quoted by Gerald Ford.
For more see here:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/883770

Lots of people have said and written words to that effect. Unfortunately, it seems the American People would rather have their candy than heed this warning.

Davy Crockett.

Geral Ford
Address to a Joint Session of Congress
August 12, 1974

On October 10, 1984, Ronald Reagan stated during an informal exchange with reporters on the Presidential Campaign:
"Well, in 1980 the American people declared their independence once again. We recognized, once and for all, that A GOVERNMENT BIG ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT. And we recognize that after all this time, Henry David Thoreau was right: that government is best which governs least."

On March 28, 1985, Ronald Reagan remarked to the Students and Faculty at St. John's University in New York, New York:
"If we've learned anything, it is that GOVERNMENT THAT IS BIG ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS MORE LIKELY TO SIMPLY TAKE EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT. And that's not freedom, that's servitude. That isn't the way Americans were meant to live."

Also included by Gerald Ford, in an address to a Joint Session of the Congress, August 12, 1974, and repeated in similar wording over 50 times during the next three years of his administration:
"Whether we like it or not, the American wage earner and the American housewife are a lot better economists than most economists care to admit. They know that A GOVERNMENT BIG ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS A GOVERNMENT BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE FROM YOU EVERYTHING YOU HAVE."