Things to Ponder

[82Rigger]

Chuckles for election eve.



GREAT MINDS ON GOVERNMENT

1) Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But... I repeat myself............Mark Twain

2) I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle..........Winston Churchill

3) A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul................George Bernard Shaw

4) A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.............G. Gordon Liddy

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

6) Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries........Douglas Casey,
Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

7) Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.................P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

8) Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else............Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

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

10) I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts................Will Rogers

11) If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free..........P.J. O'Rourke

12) If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist.......Joseph Sobran, Former Editor of the National Review (1995)

13) In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.........Voltaire (1764)

14) 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.)

15) No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.....Mark Twain (1866)

16) Talk is cheap ... except when Congress does it.......Unknown

17) The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.........Ronald Reagan

18) The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery........Winston Churchill

19) The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.......Mark Twain

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

21) There is no distinctly native American criminal class.... save Congress.......Mark Twain

22) What this country needs are more unemployed politicians........Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

23) A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.........Thomas Jefferson, Famous Revolutionary

24) They're all liars.........Bob Thorne

[sn-e3]

Alot of wisdom from alot of wise men why can't everybody see the folly of it all. until the politicians are cleaned up we will continue to go to hell in a hand basket.

[QM3steve]

The scarier part is that it hasn't changed since 430 B.C.

[reconeil]

You sure that wasn't actually 429 B.C.?

Regardless, great post Rigger. Never thought I'd see so many actual truths and realities posted on only one post.

Neil, The Leg

[Seascamp]

Good stuff, but my guess is that this goes back to the dawn of man where some humanoid figured out that he could fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time??.etc., and as a result, get a free ride and jump slick from the hunting/gathering and fighting deal. Makes sense to me anyway.

Scamp

[Jerry D]

Great Post Steve here is one more from PT Barnum for ya' , "This way to the Great Egress" was PT Barnums most famous words and many went thru the door to find themselves locked out and paying to get back in again

[frisco-kid]

More from my favorite political observer and humorist, Mark Twain.

"Wm. Penn achieved the deathless gratitude of the savages by merely dealing in a square way with them-well, kind of a square way, anyhow-more rectangular than the savage was used to, at any rate. He bought the whole State of PA from them & paid for it like a man. Paid $40 worth of glass beads and a couple of used blankets. Bought the whole State for that! Why, you can't buy it's legislature for twice the money now."


"Tell a dog a joke and he never fails to wag his tail. I had a dog that would wag himself from one side of the road to the other whenever I introduced him to a politician."


"The New Political Gospel: Public office is private graft."
[President Cleveland's motto was "Public office is a public trust.]


"Vote: The only commodity that is peddleable without a license."


[Warning two young burglars who had stolen silverware from his new mansion, Stormfield:] "Don't you see where you're drifting? They'll send you from here down to Bridgeport [CT] jail, and the next thing you know you'll be in the United States Senate. There's no future left open to you."


"Senator: Person who makes laws in Washington when not doing time."


Seems that Mark Twain put politicians on about the same class level that I do.