Food for Thought

Vol. 2, No. 4--May 11, 2005

Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives.
FW

A Republican President on Social Security
Now it is true that I believe this country is following a dangerous trend when it permits too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions. I oppose this--in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one. But to attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it. The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything--even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution. This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon "moderation" in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas.5 Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952)

This year sees Major League Baseball return to our nation's capital after an absence of 34 years. Now if only scruples, ethics, and a sense of duty could follow a similar path. I think even with a 34-year cycle, we're still a little overdue.
Will Durst

...if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties.. if that is what they mean by a "liberal" then I am proud to be a liberal.
John F. Kennedy

It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.
General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951

The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy... To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism...
Barry Goldwater (1972)

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

You can have great wealth or a democracy, but you cannot have both.
Louis Brandeis

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, effects all indirectly.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Make me, o Lord, the instrument of your love, that I may bring comfort to those who sorrow and joy to those who are regarded as persons of little account. In this country of many races, make me courteous to those who are humble and understanding to those who are resentful. Teach me what I should be to the arrogant, the cruel, for I do not know. As for myself, make me more joyful than I am, especially if this is needed for the sake of others. Let me remember my many experiences of joy and thankfulness. And may I this coming day do some work of peace for thee.
Alan Stewart Paton (South Africa)

You can no more win a war, than you can win an earthquake.
Jeanette Rankin, suffragist and lifelong pacifist.

Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.
Hafsat Abiola, 27 year old women's rights and democracy activist from Nigeria.

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.
African Proverb

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
Pablo Casals

Nobody is more pro life than an environmentalist.
T.A. Barron

Wealthfare -- the money government gives away to corporations and wealthy individuals -- costs us more than $815 billion a year. That's...more than four times what we spend on welfare for the poor.
Mark Zepezauer, Take the Rich Off Welfare

Back to Table of Contents