'I'm from the government and I'm here to help (you)'

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:40:26 -0500, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>-----
>(Frederick, Md.) News, July 19, 1976, p. 4
>"Why Do Fewer Voters Care" by William Burleigh
>The American condition, columnist George Will told a group not long ago,
>can be summed up in three sentences we're hearing these days:
>"Your check is in the mail."
>"I will respect you as much in the morning."
>"I am from the government and I am here to help you."
>-----

A slightly earlier cite, with an attribution from the other end of the
political spectrum:

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(Zanesville, Ohio) Times Recorder, March 7, 1976, p. 4-A
We like Sen. Edmund Muskie's list of the "three most commonly told lies."
The first is "I put your check in the mail yesterday." Second
is "I gave at the office." And third is "I'm from the federal government
and I'm here to help you."
-----


--Ben Zimmer