I'm tired of my signature. I have been for a while, but it's the gift that keeps on giving. I've had people look up Alexander Tytler on snopes and and attack him and I've had others just bristle at the thought that the government shouldn't be able to buy them things. All in all, I believe what it says and enjoy the fact that others who don't see the world as I do, don't enjoy the sentiment.
Yesterday I heard this quote by George Washington which also expresses a sentiment I find accurate. I'm thinking about changing the signature.
quote:
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. George Washington
My question is, which quote do liberals find most annoying?
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
Posts: 8264 | Location: Fl | Registered: 05 July 2001
If the purpose is to irritate liberals, I might suggest this one:
There's no way to rule innocent men The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
-- The only time we see the middle of the road is as we run from side to side. R.O.Clark
Posts: 3959 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 11 June 2003
No, I think liberals would like that one. Hate crimes come to mind, as does the Cheney witch hunt. I like the Washington one better.
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
Posts: 8264 | Location: Fl | Registered: 05 July 2001
Well, Don, I personally don't see either as annoying. But I don't know what "liberals" think.
First time I read your Alexander Tytler quote I got to the proposition "exist as a permanent form of government" and I wondered what a permanent form of government was supposed to mean, who would want such and thing and what kind of mind set would come up with such a proposition, and that proposition sort of fell apart into a bunch of abstract nothingness for me, and so there wasn't much more to it.
George Washington and those folks were trying to figure out what they mean when they used those terms like "government" then, and I'm still trying to figure it out myself. At least he saw it as something bordering on dynamic, which makes more sense to me, because I tend to see what we might try to think of as government more as the ongoing waves of a lot of processes in peaks and valleys, that come together to attempt to accomplish something, maybe actively solve ongoing problems, hopefully learn in the process to be better prepared for new ones.
The illusion these efforts we make to articulate what we mean by government comes out in attempts to personify it in ways that make the abstract culmination of the legal structures seem like something out of a Greek myth, but then they were pretty much all the beneficiaries of a classical education, and so Washington DC looks like it does.
Originally posted by Sawdust: I'm tired of my signature. I have been for a while, but it's the gift that keeps on giving. I've had people look up Alexander Tytler on snopes and and attack him and I've had others just bristle at the thought that the government shouldn't be able to buy them things. All in all, I believe what it says and enjoy the fact that others who don't see the world as I do, don't enjoy the sentiment.
Yesterday I heard this quote by George Washington which also expresses a sentiment I find accurate. I'm thinking about changing the signature.
quote:
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. George Washington
My question is, which quote do liberals find most annoying?
No but I bet another George might take offense to the last part...
"Yeehaw" is not a foreign policy!
Posts: 875 | Location: The Emerald City | Registered: 02 January 2007
"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions." - James Madison, 1792
quote:
"No legislative act … contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 78
quote:
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." - James Madison criticizing an attempt to grant public monies for charitable means, 1794
quote:
"I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit." - President Grover Cleveland, 1887
**** Disclaimer: The information in this weblog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my owner. It is solely my own personal opinion. Inappropriate comments will be deleted at the authors discretion.***
"I stand or fall on my own words."
Posts: 7253 | Location: PORTLAND | Registered: 07 November 2005
**** Disclaimer: The information in this weblog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my owner. It is solely my own personal opinion. Inappropriate comments will be deleted at the authors discretion.***
"I stand or fall on my own words."
Posts: 7253 | Location: PORTLAND | Registered: 07 November 2005
Sawdust, how about a picture to go along with your new signature. I always had fun with the "No Che". But being part radicalized, I liked the anti-revolutionary spirit.
Posts: 7939 | Location: Santa Barbara | Registered: 19 July 2005
Brian wins. So many people think that the term "general welfare" means everything, it's important to understand that the phrase wasn't intended to be a catch all for the next great brain fart.
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
Posts: 8264 | Location: Fl | Registered: 05 July 2001
--------------------------------------------------------------- "if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got." ---------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 6804 | Location: usa | Registered: 09 February 2006
Is this the board's self-appointed thought police striking again, keeping those board thoughts monitored and within bounds on a serious topic like this one? Or an attempt to show appreciation for someone's humor?
Well, you never know, what evil good lurks in the hearts of men's souls.
--------------------------------------------------------------- "if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got." ---------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 6804 | Location: usa | Registered: 09 February 2006
How's this one Kate, "if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got."
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
Posts: 8264 | Location: Fl | Registered: 05 July 2001
I would like to start my thanking all the people who this moment possible.
Mom / Dad you guys were always there for me. Thanks goodness you guys we in the grips of a global ice age that inspired my birth 9 mouth later
Thom… You’re the man. Not even Lars has his own discussion board.
I promise not to let this award go to my head… Honestly it just would not fit.
**** Disclaimer: The information in this weblog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my owner. It is solely my own personal opinion. Inappropriate comments will be deleted at the authors discretion.***
"I stand or fall on my own words."
Posts: 7253 | Location: PORTLAND | Registered: 07 November 2005
Individuals are legally responsible for their views. Messages or parts of messages may be quoted or read on the radio, or reprinted in Thom's books and other materials.
I think he's a natural born lawyer/politician type.
