Friends. The United States known damned few good presidents. The men that have held the position have uniformly been power hungry scoundrels or outright barbarians. But... tonight I want to write about the Greatest of the US Presidents.
Grover Cleveland
To back up that claim... I'm going to offer you a quote from the man.
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. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.
Understand... the man that said this was elected twice... and won the popular vote 3 times. He was the tip of the spear in a political group that actually called themselves Bourbon Democrats. He is said to have vetoed more bills than any other president.
Now... if a politician said something like that today... how do you suppose the public would react?
Friends... we were born in the wrong century.
6 comments:
the great shame is that our founding fathers would have already loaded their muskets by now. They wouldn't have tolerated such transgressions against the constitution.
Walter E. Williams has a collection of similar quotes by other preznits.
The past is another country.
I read a fine book some years ago: "The Cult of the Presidency". It's a great introduction to the way the office of the president of the US has mutated over the years.
Of particular interest were two observations: 1) That the esteem in which Presidents are held is almost directly proportional to the number of violent American deaths on their watch (see Lincoln, FDR, etc), and 2) that when both conservatives and liberals create rank ordered lists of past presidents from worst to best, the ONLY difference is that Reagan goes up about a dozen spots - other than that the two lists are identical.
All this spending by politicians, be it taxes or foreign aid, boils down to one thing in the end. Social engineering to influence behaviour.
If a candidate for president said anything like Cleveland said about the Constitution, he would be screamed out of town.
My first real experience with an actual Democrat was Zell Miller when he gave a speech at the Republican convention back in the 80's I think. After experiencing liberals who called themselves democrat, it was a revelation.
I don't believe there is anything like Democrats in this country anymore.
Nate loves Yankees.
Wise man he was. On weakening the sturdiness of our national character:
I've worked with people in generational poverty for several years now and I've educated myself on this culture in various ways outside of my direct contact experiences.
The people who live on handouts organize their daily lives around the requirements of receiving them. It can actually, at times, be hard work.
They don't know anything different. The idea of organizing life around providing for yourself and your family through your own labor is not something they've been mentored in.
Voting is all about who they perceive is going to give them more stuff as they're highly informed by our consumerist culture. What they don't understand is their complicity in their own oppression. They love Obama and don't see that he's not helping them. He, and other presidents before him, along with our other government officials want to keep them down - keep them powerless and dependent. They are a manipulable voting block as long as they stay where they are.
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