US Presidency
1971

The fact is that we have made the federal government so strong it grows muscle-bound and the states and localities so weak they approach impotence. If we put more power in more places, we can make government more creative in more places. That way we multiply the number of people with the ability to make things happen, and we can open the way to a new burst of creative energy throughout America. The final reason I urge this historic shift is much more personal, for each and for every one of us. As everything seems to have grown bigger and more complex in America, as the forces that shape our lives seem to have grown more distant and more impersonal, a great feeling of frustration has crept across this land. Whether it is the workingman who feels neglected, the black man who feels oppressed, or the mother concerned about her children, there has been a growing feeling that Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind.