--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: the belief that the government can impose…" description: "\"“the belief that the government can impose top-down measures to rescue the”\" — Michael Shermer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/157/michael-shermer-2567_faith_the-belief-that-the-government-can-impos_2083869.jpg" --- # the belief that the government can impose top-down… ![“the belief that the government can impose top-down measures to rescue the” quote by Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/157/michael-shermer-2567_faith_the-belief-that-the-government-can-impos_2083869.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/157/michael-shermer-2567_faith_the-belief-that-the-government-can-impos_2083869.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/157/michael-shermer-2567_faith_the-belief-that-the-government-can-impos_2083869.jpg) > ““the belief that the government can impose top-down measures to rescue the”” [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote suggests skepticism toward government‑driven solutions for complex problems. **In simple terms:** Government fixes are often insufficient. Key Takeaway Question top‑down interventions. Themes skepticism government policy problem‑solving Mood critical analytical Type cautionary thought‑provoking When to use this quote - economic crises - public health emergencies - environmental regulation Key Concepts public policy systems thinking risk assessment Questions to Reflect On - What problems are best solved by government? - When do market solutions outperform regulation? A Different Perspective Effectiveness depends on implementation and public trust. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belief Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief-government-1446802/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Government Impose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government-impose-3638945/) [Impose Measures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impose-measures-4084211/) [Measures Rescue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/measures-rescue-4084210/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Rescue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rescue/) ## Related quotes > [I don't have an issue with whether - from a legal standpoint, with whether or not government can impose the ultimate punishment on people.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trey-gowdy/i-don-t-have-an-issue-with-whether-from-a-legal-standpoint-with/) [Trey Gowdy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trey-gowdy/) > [It is no more the function of government to impose a moral code than to impose a religious code. 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But the belief in “government” – the notion that some people actually have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larken-rose/government-itself-does-no-harm-because-it-is-a-fictional-entity-but/) [Larken Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larken-rose/) > [What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-jordan/what-we-have-to-do-is-strike-a-balance-between-the-idea-that/) [Barbara Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-jordan/) > [The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-goldwater/the-conservative-movement-to-which-i-subscribe-has-as-one-of-its/) [Barry Goldwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-goldwater/) > [It is up to Labour to keep alive the belief that government should be for the whole nation and that no section of society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-thornberry/it-is-up-to-labour-to-keep-alive-the-belief-that-government-should-be/) [Emily Thornberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-thornberry/) ## More by Michael Shermer > [I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/i-m-a-skeptic-not-because-i-do-not-want-to-believe-but-because-i-want/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [“According to Dembski, for example, “scientific creationism has prior religious commitments whereas intelligent design does not.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/according-to-dembski-for-example-scientific-creationism-has-prior/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [The first-cause and prime-mover argument, brilliantly proffered by St. Thomas Aquinas in the fourteenth century (and brilliantly refuted by David Hume in the eighteenth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/the-first-cause-and-prime-mover-argument-brilliantly-proffered-by-st/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [“Mind is just a word we use to describe neural activity in the brain. 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We know this because if a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/mind-is-just-a-word-we-use-to-describe-neural-activity-in-the-brain/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [Through no divine design or cosmic plan, we have inherited the mantle of life's caretaker on the earth, the only home we have ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/through-no-divine-design-or-cosmic-plan-we-have-inherited-the-mantle/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [I always accepted the libertarian position of minimum regulation in the sale and use of firearms because I placed guns under the beneficial rubric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/i-always-accepted-the-libertarian-position-of-minimum-regulation-in/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [If spirituality is the sense of awe and humility in the face of the creation, what could be more awesome and humbling than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/if-spirituality-is-the-sense-of-awe-and-humility-in-the-face-of-the/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [We know evolution happened not because of transitional fossils such as A. natans but because of the convergence of evidence from such diverse fields…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/we-know-evolution-happened-not-because-of-transitional-fossils-such/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [“Yet basically, libertarians are for freedom and liberty for individuals, while recognizing that in order to be free we must also be protected. Your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/yet-basically-libertarians-are-for-freedom-and-liberty-for/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [Scientists like Bjorn Lomborg in The Skeptical Environmentalist have, in my opinion, properly nailed environmental extremists for these exaggerated scenarios.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/scientists-like-bjorn-lomborg-in-the-skeptical-environmentalist-have/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [When religious believers invoke miracles and acts of creation ex nihilo, that is the end of the search for them, whereas for scientists, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/when-religious-believers-invoke-miracles-and-acts-of-creation-ex/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [Darwin matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the preeminent story of our age, an epic saga…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/darwin-matters-because-evolution-matters-evolution-matters-because/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [What can be more soul shaking than peering through a 100-inch telescope at a distant galaxy, holding a 100-million-year-old fossil or a 500,000-year-old stone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/what-can-be-more-soul-shaking-than-peering-through-a-100-inch/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [Skepticism is not a position that you stake out ahead of time and stick to no matter what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/skepticism-is-not-a-position-that-you-stake-out-ahead-of-time-and/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [“Neuroscientist David Comings drew out the larger implications of such hallucinations for the relationship between our rational and spiritual brains: The psychedelic drugs like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/neuroscientist-david-comings-drew-out-the-larger-implications-of-such/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) [Explore all 160 Michael Shermer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) ## More Faith quotes > [“What I have a problem with is not so much religion or god, but faith. 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For You are a fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-catherine-of-siena/eternal-trinity-mystery-deep-as-the-sea-you-could-give-me-no-greater/) [St. Catherine of Siena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-catherine-of-siena/) > [Keep the faith, and keep going strong!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doreen-virtue/keep-the-faith-and-keep-going-strong/) [Doreen Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doreen-virtue/) > [It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/it-s-so-important-to-create-in-your-own-voice-to-hold-onto-what-makes/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [Faith gives you a certain structure and meaning to your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riffat-hassan/faith-gives-you-a-certain-structure-and-meaning-to-your-life/) [Riffat Hassan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riffat-hassan/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [“No man is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/no-man-is-prejudiced-in-favour-of-a-thing-knowing-it-to-be-wrong-he/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [Holiness sincerity, and faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/holiness-sincerity-and-faith/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [“The only limitations for your life are the limiting beliefs in your mind. —Matt Morris”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-morris-1/the-only-limitations-for-your-life-are-the-limiting-beliefs-in-your/) [Matt Morris (1](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-morris-1/) > [“Just because your faith is shaken doesn’t mean the faith is shaken. 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