Sad But True Quotes
June 11, 2009
A friend sent me the quotes below today. I don’t usually post these kind of things, but frankly, today, they seem kind of apropos. I also don’t know if they are all “real” quotes or made up.
- In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. — John Adams
- If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. — Mark Twain
- Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. — Mark Twain
- I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. — Winston Churchill
- A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. — George Bernard Shaw
- A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. — G. Gordon Liddy
- Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. — James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
- Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. — Douglas Casey, Georgetown University
- Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
- Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. — Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
- Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. — Ronald Reagan (1986)
- I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. — Will Rogers
- If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! — P.J. O’Rourke
- In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. — Voltaire (1764)
- Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! — Pericles (430 B.C.)
- No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. — Mark Twain (1866)
- Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it. — Anonymous
- The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. — Ronald Reagan
- The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. — Winston Churchill
- The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. — Mark Twain
- The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. — Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
- There is no distinctly native American criminal class…save Congress. — Mark Twain
- What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. — Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
- A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson
So, what do you think? Agree or disagree with any?
It’s Finally Over!
November 5, 2008
Yes, the election is finally over and to no one’s surprise, it’s not the result I was hoping for, though it was not unexpected either. The US has definitely stepped to the left here. Still, Congratulations to President elect Obama. The over arching sad part here is that each and every Presidential election we go through, the campaigning gets longer and longer and less and less relevant. More than anything else, I am glad this one is behind us.
I must admit that in my pushing 50 years now, this is the most memorable Presidential election that I can recall. Oh, the last one had its moments, but this one was was very different. We had our first major party African American candidate and will have the first African American President. Political beliefs aside, that is a good thing and quite frankly, its overdue and I am still surprised it took us this long. While I am not a supporter of Obama, perhaps this will allow us to put those kind of race and gender discussions finally behind us and just worry about electing the best man/woman for the job.
What amazed me most though, was how folks voted and why they voted for Obama. Or at least in my relatively small sampling of folks whom I talked to that said they were voting for Obama. Almost everyone of them (including my Mother) said they were voting against Bush versus voting for Obama. Last time I checked, Bush wasn’t even a candidate. And no, I don’t buy that voting for McCain was the same as voting for Bush. Not a single one could give me a concrete reason for voting for Obama. The logic of those kind of votes just defies me. Change is not a reason for a vote. Without knowing what change you are voting for, what’s the point? As a person who researches the candidates and issues, and then aligns myself with the one who comes closes to my beliefs, that’s just very strange. Talk about taking a flyer.
During the campaign, Obama was very charismatic and definitely an articulate and captivating speaker. It will be interesting to see who the man behind the mask really is and what his agenda will be. He certainly never discussed it during the campaign in any detail. He had lots of rhetoric about change and other words that folks wanted to hear but was very thin on any kind of details.
And there in lies my hope. Being that he never really said what he was for or what he would do in detail, there is some hope and possibility that Obama will actually do some good things. Unfortunately, the few details he did provide, were the major problems I have with him. There is certainly more upside potential with him than there would have been if Hilary had been the Democratic nominee and won the election.
Some folks at work were joking this morning that they suddenly became rich last night. Or at least they did in the eyes of President elect Obama. I think we are in for an interesting four years and look forward to who this new President really is. Hopefully, I will be pleasantly surprised though I certainly won’t be holding my breath.
A military friend of mine summed it up in his blog last night when he said:
It’s night like this that soldiers man up, salute their new Commander-In-Chief, and go back to doing their jobs without complaint.
In the meantime, with the election over, I can now resume my regularly scheduled personal blogging now and go back to generally avoiding politics here.
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