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POLITICS since 400 BC


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2012 Jan 22, 8:23am   5,871 views  22 comments

by TMAC54   ➕follow (0)   💰tip   ignore  

GREAT TRUTHS
1. 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

2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain

4. 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

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw

6. 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

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard , Civil Libertarian (1994)

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey , Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke , Civil Libertarian

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat , French economist(1801-1850)

11. 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)

12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! -- P.J. O'Rourke

14. 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)

15. 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.)

16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. -- Mark Twain (1866)

17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. -- Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan

19. 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

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer , English Philosopher (1820-1903)

22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress. -- Mark Twain

23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley , Artist (1928-1995)

24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Thomas Jefferson

25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -- Aesop

FIVE BEST SENTENCES
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for...another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!

#politics

Comments 1 - 22 of 22        Search these comments

1   nope   2012 Jan 22, 8:56am  

He who derives wisdom solely from the words of others lacks any of his own - Benjamin Franklin

[I find it hilarious when people post quotes on the internet, especially when more than half of them are being attributed to people who never said them, nor would it have made any logical sense for them to have said it. Even more are simply made up.]

2   Patrick   2012 Jan 22, 11:48am  

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

-- Abraham Lincoln

3   TPB   2012 Jan 22, 12:37pm  

brb
--Jimmy Hoffa

5   TMAC54   2012 Jan 22, 11:30pm  

Looks like I touched a nerve.

Is there one, or many of the lines misquoted or is it the small government spirit that caused this anxious response ? Kevin says

[I find it hilarious when people post quotes on the internet, especially when more than half of them are being attributed to people who never said them, nor would it have made any logical sense for them to have said it. Even more are simply made up.]

I like the lessons, Verifying the history is secondary to securing the future.
Thats my Quote. Not bad though, HUH ?

6   nope   2012 Jan 23, 6:44pm  

Please spend 5 seconds googling each of those quotes. I'd be surprised if a result from snopes wasn't the first result 4 out of 5 times.

7   Vicente   2012 Jan 23, 11:11pm  

Kevin says

Please spend 5 seconds googling each of those quotes. I'd be surprised if a result from snopes wasn't the first result 4 out of 5 times.

Well THIS one is correct, I used to be a PJ O'Rourke fan:

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke , Civil Libertarian

That's before I realized that like most "Civil Libertarians" he's actually a Republican apologist and NeoCon to the core. You may recall him protesting the abuses and power grabs of W's administration? Oh wait, you wouldn't because he didn't.

Just because you can collect up a bunch of pithy quotes, doesn't mean you've found a gold mine of "truth".

8   TMAC54   2012 Jan 23, 11:38pm  

Kevin says

[I find it hilarious when people post quotes on the internet, especially when more than half of them are being attributed to people who never said them, nor would it have made any logical sense for them to have said it. Even more are simply made up.]

GOOGLE confirms all of them.

LOOK ! It's the unknown welder !

9   marcus   2012 Jan 25, 11:28am  

Some of those are pretty good. I have no opinion as to their accuracy.
But I am pretty sure that these particular ones I interpret way differently than you do.

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard , Civil Libertarian (1994)

14. 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)

19. 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

10   TMAC54   2012 Jan 25, 1:17pm  

This one, In my opinion is omnipotent.
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.

Every Government agency that I have worked with is at least inefficient, unmotivated and preoccupied with their own retirement benefits. The amount of money being hidden and wasted is killing us. The ideas may sound utopian, but their implementation reminds me of an english mans teeth.

MY ALL TIME FAVE. It's a darn good thing we don't get all the gubmint we pay for.

11   TMAC54   2012 Jan 25, 1:31pm  

Vicente says

Just because you can collect up a bunch of pithy quotes, doesn't mean you've found a gold mine of "truth".

Makes ya wonder if Aesop was being pithy. The point is, Gubmint takes on a narcissistic demeanor the moment appointed to office.
The word govern means control. We need to change it's title to SERVANT or CARETAKER or ???.

We could buy them each a hat.

12   Vicente   2012 Jan 25, 3:23pm  

Quotes, that's the way to WISDOM. Like this one from the Oracle of our Age:

--------------------------

Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace, thus demanding that men survive by means of virtue, not vices. It is this superlatively moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats, and the chronic goad of fear.

ALAN GREENSPAN, The Assault on Integrity

------------------------------

How'd that "superlatively moral" system do when Uncle Al convinced everyone capitalism would self-regulate? My recollection we had Girls...err Financiers Gone Wild, and then one hell of a hangover. No, we DO need some government, in fact a bit more than we have been having the last decade or two. SOMEBODY needs to take away the punch bowl before the party gets too rowdy, we have adequate proof that the Frat Boys don't know when to stop. Sure, some healthy skepticism of overbearing government is fine, but belief that ALL governance is inherently evil is just plain stupid. The "bomb throwing anarchist" comes in all flavors though some are even respected billionaires.

13   TMAC54   2012 Jan 25, 11:05pm  

When Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Buffet, You. lye on that death bed, they offer ALL THEIR money to FIX what ever the ailment. Money means nothing at this point.
America is now offering ALL YOUR money and borrowing $40 K per min. or maybe I heard pr sec. without our acceptance, even acknowledgement. Have you ever noticed how much nicer gubmint buildings are than private enterprise ?
A gubmint operation is like a restaurant in a dictatorship. Why would the Waitress want you to come back ? She get's paid the same if she serves your food late & cold w curlers in her hair. In fact , the attitude is usually "Go Away" !!!
Like the Real Estate bubble where sales people are conveniently blamed. People pay greatly for convenience. It is the fault of the PEOPLE who demand " GUBMINT HELP ME !!!!!! "GUBMINT SAVE ME" !!! WE are an ignorant species and will inevitably cause ourselves to return to a more primitive lifestyle, SOON.
We just steamrolled through the largest cash flow in history,,,, what do we have to show for it ? The threat of total economic collapse !
We have a choice to make in gubmint. If we depend on, "central planning" it soon becomes inefficient and corrupt. If we self regulate, we do a good job til we are caught. I say eliminate the middle man (inefficient gubmint) AND anyone caught.

14   Vicente   2012 Jan 25, 11:13pm  

TMAC54 says

Have you ever noticed how much nicer gubmint buildings are than private enterprise ?

Actually no.

I work in a "gubmint building" and it's a shithole. Nothing in it has changed since the 1970's. Filled with asbestos, crappy furniture, worn carpet, and about every other day the HVAC is not working right.

Here's the paradise of your "gubmint buildings".

15   Dan8267   2012 Jan 26, 5:01am  

TMAC54 says

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard , Civil Libertarian (1994)

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb. ~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Benjamin Franklin

http://www.quotegarden.com/government.html

It's a very old quote though.

Typically it ends with: Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

16   Vicente   2012 Jan 26, 12:09pm  

“Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.”

- Bertrand Russell

17   TMAC54   2012 Jan 26, 12:17pm  

Vicente says

Here's the paradise of your "gubmint buildings".

San Jose's new City Hall cost $343 million to build.

The Jail & new courthouse are also impressive.

Thank You for the heads up Abe , I feel we have a choice, Sit back and when all the money is gone, we can boast "We told you so" !!! Or we can continue to the intervention and get them to do the math & tighten their belts.

18   Vicente   2012 Jan 26, 12:24pm  

TMAC54 says

San Jose's new City Hall cost $343 million to build.

San Jose.... Are you a Bay Arean? Aren't there large companies there with fancier digs? Seems like the SJ City Hall is scooping up the change at the bottom of the Google slide:

Out here in farm country, City Hall looks more like this:

19   nope   2012 Jan 26, 7:59pm  

TMAC54 says

GOOGLE confirms all of them.

Only not. Try again. You actually managed to get 3 out of the top 4 misattributed quotes on the internet (according to snopes) in one post!

20   TMAC54   2012 Jan 26, 11:34pm  

Kevin says

GOOGLE confirms all of them.

Only not. Try again. You actually managed to get 3 out of the top 4 misattributed quotes on the internet (according to snopes) in one post!

Copying one mans writing is Plagiarism. Copying from many is research.
I will certainly respect and correct the true authors when confirmed.
In the meantime and back to the point of the thread, we ponder similar anxiety caused by Gubmint since it's inception. This most modern contraption known as the computer allows more minds to share their point of view. The ultimate goal being "A meeting of the Minds".
Do we all feel that gubmint is overspending ?
Should citizens who did NOT invest in the real estate bubble pay for that risky behavior ? Will our Grandchildren be denied a home due to gubmint involvement ?

21   Patrick   2012 Feb 15, 3:22am  

Honest Abe says

do-gooders, pinko-commies, and left wing wack-jobs on this site.

I'm very happy to have your opinions here, but only if you can be polite in expressing them.

If you can't be polite, please go away.

22   Vicente   2012 Feb 15, 3:45am  

TMAC54 says

Should citizens who did NOT invest in the real estate bubble pay for that risky behavior ? Will our Grandchildren be denied a home due to gubmint involvement ?

YOU don't get a choice in that matter at present.

Bank bailouts are the more important factor preventing a return to norm in real estate.

If all the insolvent banks had gone bust, the inventory would have to unwind instead of being left in the shadows. The sudden glut of supply hitting the market would have collapsed values to AFFORDABLE levels.

However do not think for a moment that Teabaggers or any of the other "conservatives" are SERIOUS about having that happen. They are not. They like to talk about it in the abstract, but their voting record clearly says the opposite of their lip-flapping. When it matters, the banks will be propped up and enabled AT ALL COSTS and excuses will be made for why this unpleasantness must be swallowed.

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