{Limitations on Good Government}[5th May 1970]

[Redbook1:146][19700505:1815f]{Limitations on Good Government}[5th May 1970]

Tuesday 5th May 1970   6.15pm [continued]

(L)       You can't expect the government to do everything (said the head of it): there are some things for the proper guidance of this country which you, the people, must do yourselves.  The government can coerce people but some things cannot or should not be obtained from you by coercion. You, the people, can persuade people, and you can persuade yourselves, to respect the vital things in our civilisation, such as respect for the law, willingness to do one’s bit, compassion, helpfulness -- all the little things that cannot be enforced but can be adopted -- by you.

            These are the things on which our way of living is founded; and in the last resort it is not the government that runs the country, your servants; it is the people, yourselves.

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