24 Thoughts on Government and Politics

In this era of the biggest government intervention in the economy since the Great Depression, I found an e-mail recently sent to me was somewhat poignent. It makes for some good thought topics, some of which I agree with and some I don't.

We live in interesting times indeed!


. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that oneuseless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or moreis 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 memberof Congress. But then I repeat myself.-- Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself intoprosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying tolift himself up by the handle .-- Winston Churchill

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

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to hisfellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with yourmoney.-- G. Gordon Liddy

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

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

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

10. Government is the great fiction, through whicheverybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybodyelse.-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

11.. Government's view of the economy could be summedup in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keepsmoving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.-- Ronald Reagan (1986)

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

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait untilyou 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 togive 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 whilethe 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 atthe other end.-- Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharingof 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 taxidermistis that the taxidermist leaves the skin.-- Mark Twain

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

22. There is no distinctly native American criminalclass...save Congress.-- Mark Twain

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

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