Here's something I posted some time ago, but I think it's worth repeating, maybe it's even more relevant as we wind down on the last year and a half of what a lifelong Republican friend of mine has called "this evil government."
"What good are politicians," you ask? Some are good; some are not so good; and some are no damned good; all others are in between, like you and me. As has been said, we deserve the kind of government we've elected, including the one that has been elected by our not voting. So, where are we now? What kind of national government has been in office this past 6+ years? What have our nation's Founders (and others after them) said about the need for being ever mindful of the constant threat to our Republic?
"The power of all corporations ought to be limited. The growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses."-- James Madison, our fourth President and one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporationswhich dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."-- Thomas Jefferson, our second President and author of the Declaration of Independence.
"Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the perople, are fast becoming the people's masters." -- President Grover Cleveland.
"Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an indivisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day."--President Theodore Roosevelt.
"These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of isr that we seek to take away their power." -- President Franklin Roosevelt.
"In the councils of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will continue to exist." -- President Dwight Eisenhower
Obviously, "Bush's War" has accelerated the abuses these writers warned about. But there is a new danger we now face not contemplated by these early writers, namely, a curtain of secrecy carefully designed to prevent even Congress from knowing about actions being taken by the Bush White House behind this curtain. Leaks by some and confessions by others who have left the government service, in disgust, seem to be the only way we learn. The mis-named "Patrtiot Act"is one important example of the "curtain" designed to prevent the public from knowing actually what is being done to "protect us from terrorists."
Recent Comments