"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."Very wise guy, that Milton Friedman...
"Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it."
"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself."
Dr. Thomas Sowell is without question one of the wisest guys alive, as evidenced by his thoughts on some of the most controversial issues of the day: Capitalism: "Capitalism knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily subservient to it, hence, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it." Racism: "If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today." Health Care: "It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it." Socialism: "Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it." Diversity: "The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department." Global Warming: "Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation?" |
"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."Support Israel. American strength. Patriotism. Freedom. Today's blame-America-first Democrats would probably run Kennedy out of the party.
"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."
"Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom."
"It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war."
"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."How about a special one for President Obama?
"Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties."
"Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors."
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."This one is just for Joe Biden:
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
On May 2nd, America lost a statesman and true voice for fiscal responsibility in government: Jack Kemp. We could use more like him, especially now. He will be missed."Every time in this century we've lowered the tax rates across the board, on employment, on saving, investment and risk-taking in this economy, revenues went up, not down."And here's one to really drive the radical left-wing extremists off the edge:
"There is a kind of victory in good work, no matter how humble."
"There are no limits to our future if we don't put limits on our people."
"Democracy without morality is impossible."
wisdom was often couched in humor but occasionally he sharpened his wit and cut straight to the heart of a subject, as in these simple and profound observations."Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
"If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."One more, just for the Teleprompter of the United States:
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
"Well done is better than well said."
Alexis Charles Henri Maurice Clérel De Tocqueville was a French aristocrat who visited the United States from 1831-1840 to study our government and its policies. His first book, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application in France, was published in 1832. The work for which he is most famous in this country, Democracy in America, was published in two volumes; the first in 1835, the second in 1840.'A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.'Of particular relevance to current events are the following:
'Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.'
'Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.'
'The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.'
'There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.'
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have. ~ Barry GoldwaterAnd, of course, these words of wisdom from The Beatles...
Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~ Richard Lamm
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them. ~ Lily Tomlin
Washington is a place where politicians don't know which way is up and taxes don't know which way is down. ~ Robert Orben
You don't pay taxes - they take taxes. ~ Chris Rock
"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own."
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." [Ed. Note: Sound familiar?]
All good humor is based on truth. Mr. O'Rourke proves that axiom.
"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it."
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
"Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us."
"The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop."
"Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story."And finally:
"To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects."
"If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage."
It's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.Humm..now who else does that remind me of?
"'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded."
"If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion."
"Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.And finally, proving he had wit to match his wisdom:
Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.
Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.
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.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."President Reagan was a very wise man indeed.
"Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty."
"Man is not free unless government is limited."
