Liberty and Tyranny via Lincoln

"We all declare for Liberty. But in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. For some the word Liberty may mean to do as he pleases with himself and the product of his labor. While with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name, Liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names, Liberty and Tyranny."
-Abraham Lincoln

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Liberty and Tyranny

"Tyranny is persistent. Tyranny has existed since the beginning of man. Liberty takes people to be resolute, it takes some thinking, it takes some proper education and understanding, and it takes confidence. Tyranny takes brute force and emotion and propaganda."
-Mark Levin
Interview with Rush Limbaugh, 25 March 2009

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Clunky Government

"Wise politicians will be cautious about fettering the government with restrictions that cannot be observed, because they know that every break of the fundamental laws, though dictated by necessity, impairs that sacred reverence which ought to be maintained in the breast of rulers towards the constitution of a country."
--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 25, 21 December 1787

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Choice: The Foundation of Freedom

"We stand at the crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel, and the actions we allow ourselves to perform. Each choice is made in the context of whatever value system we've selected to govern our lives. In selecting that value system, we are, in a very real way, making the most important choice we will ever make.

"Those who believe there is one God who made all things and who governs the world by his Providence will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who hold in reverence that being who gave them life and worship Him through adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who believe that mankind are all of a family and that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who believe in a future state in which all that is wrong here will be made right will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who subscribe to the morals of Jesus will make choices different from those who do not.

"Since the foundation of all happiness is thinking rightly, and since correct action is dependent on correct opinion, we cannot be too careful in choosing the value system we allow to govern our thoughts and actions.

"And to know that God governs in the affairs of men, that he hears and answers prayers, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, is indeed, a powerful regulator of human conduct."

-Benjamin Franklin
"Benjamin Franklin's The Art of Virtue," ed. George L. Rogers (1996), 88-90.

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The "Great" Orator

"Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason." --Benjamin Franklin
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Religion and The Law

"Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both."
--James Wilson, law lectures at the University of Pennsylvania
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Equal Protection

"The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy."
--Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, circa 1774

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States' Rights

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." --James Madison, Federalist No. 45

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Great Communication Skills

"Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason." --Benjamin Franklin

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No Nobles

"It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can."
--John Adams, letter to Count Sarsfield, 3 February 1786

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Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms

"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them."
--Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, 6 July 1775

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Encroaching Power

"It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. After discriminating, therefore, in theory, the several classes of power, as they may in their nature be legislative, executive, or judiciary, the next and most difficult task is to provide some practical security for each, against the invasion of the others."
--James Madison, Federalist No. 48
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Ancient Logic and Reason

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
--Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment, quoted by Thomas Jefferson in Commonplace Book, 1774-1776

To Preserve Liberty

"[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion. The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle; and when we see many men disposed to practice upon it, whenever they can prevail, no wonder true republicans are for carefully guarding against it."
--Richard Henry Lee, Letters from the Federal Farmer, 1788

The Road to Disarmament

"[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, - who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."
--George Mason, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 14 June 1778

Guard and Fight

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."
--Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 5 June 1778

We Bear Arms

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States."
--Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, 10 October 1787

An Intolerable Evil; Yet Necessary?

"[G]overnment, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."
--Thomas Paine

To Defend the Law, Not To Break It

"To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, counties or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws."
--John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787-1788

The Birthright of an American

"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? It is feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. ...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
--A Pennsylvanian, The Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 February 1788

From Whence Liberty?

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
--John Adams

For Only a Morale and Religious People

"We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and true religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
--John Adams

Wealth via Commerce

"The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become a primary object of its political cares."
--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 12, 27 November 1787

Fruits of The New Deal

"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition."
--Thomas Jefferson

Liberty of Commerce

"I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty."
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, 7 July 1785

Free Commerce

"Harmony, liberal intercourse with all Nations, are recommended by policy, humanity and interest. But even our Commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favours or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of Commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with Powers so disposed; in order to give trade a stable course."
--George Washington, Farewell Address, 19 September 1796

The Penalties of Property

"A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species."
--James Madison

Freedom in the Market

"[C]ommercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive and impolitic. ...[I]f industry and labour are left to take their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out."
--James Madison, speech to Congress, 9 April 1789

Commerce

"War is not the best engine for us to resort to; nature has given us one in our commerce, which if properly managed, will be a better instrument for obliging the interested nations of Europe to treat us with justice."
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Pickney, 29 May 1797

Resistance to Government

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. ... I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."
--Thomas Jefferson

Remember The Alamo!

Commandancy of the Alamo------

Bexar Fby. 24th 1836

To the People of Texas &
All Americans in the World------

Fellow Citizens & Compatriots------

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna ----- I have sustained a continual bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man ----- The enemy has demanded a Surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken ----- I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still wave proudly from the walls ----- I shall never surrender or retreat

Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & every thing dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch ----- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country ----- Victory or Death

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. Comdt



P. S. The lord is on our side- When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn---We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves---

Travis

Thermopylae

Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.

Ō ksein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti tēide
keimetha tois keinōn rhēmasi peithomenoi.

Go tell the Spartans, thou who passest by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie

Righteous Rebellion

"On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them. If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?"
--Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, Query 12, 1782

The Ancient Roman Housing and Credit Crisis

"When politicians, enthusiastic to pose as the people's friends, bring forward bills providing for the distribution of property, they intend that the existing owners shall be driven from their homes. Or they propose to excuse borrowers from paying back their debts.

"Men with those views undermine the very foundations on which our commonwealth depends. In the first place, they are shattering the harmony between one element in the State and another, a relationship which cannot possibly survive if debtors are excused from paying their creditor back the sums of money he is entitled to. Furthermore, all politicians who harbour such intentions are aiming a fatal blow at the whole principle of justice; for once rights of property are infringed, this principle is totally undermined."

"The real answer to the problem is that we must make absolutely certain that private debts do not ever reach proportions which will constitute a national peril. There are various ways of ensuring this. But just to take the money away from the rich creditors and give the debtors something that does not belong to them is no solution at all. For the firmest possible guarantee of a country's security is sound credit...

"So the men in charge of our national interests will do well to steer clear of the kind of liberality which involves robbing one man to give to another."

--Cicero

For You or To You?

"Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people."
-- Thomas Jefferson

Tyrannical Government

"That [tyrannical government] power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?"
--French historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

B. Hussein Obama and the Economy

"Obama's going through the economy like Sherman through Atlanta. He's burning everything in sight!"
--Mark Levin
5 March 2009

Spiritual Strength

"This is the real task before us: to reassert our commitment as a nation to a law higher than our own, to renew our spiritual strength. Only by building a wall of such spiritual resolve can we, as a free people, hope to protect our own heritage and make it someday the birthright of all men."
--Ronald Reagan

Friendship

"That sir,
which serves and seeks for gain,
And follows but for form,
Will pack when it begins to rain,
And leave thee in the storm."
-William Shakespeare

The Syren of Hope

"It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth -- and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts."
--Patrick Henry

Usurpation

"If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield."
--George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

Virture and Politicians

"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virture to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust."
--Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, Federalist No. 57, 19 February 1788

General Welfare

"With respect to the two words 'general welfare,' I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."
--James Madison
UPRIGHT

Congress and Lawyers

"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected."
--Thomas Jefferson, autobiography, 1821

Consensus

"Consensus is the absence of Leadership."
-Margaret Thatcher

No Longer a Limited Government

"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, letter to Edmund Pendleton, 21 January 1792

Tolerance

Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions.
-Anonymous

Power Lust

"Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind." -Ayn Rand

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Character

"Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters." --Samuel Adams

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Unrighteous Dominion, As Seen by God

"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion."
Doctrine & Covenants 121: 39

Unrighteous Dominion, As Seen by Man

"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired."
--Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 23 February 1775

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Great Orators of the Democratic Party

"One man with courage makes a majority."

- Andrew Jackson



"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt



"The buck stops here."

- Harry S. Truman



"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

- John F. Kennedy



And for today's Democrats...



"It depends what your definition of 'IS' is.''

- Bill Clinton



"That Obama - I would like to cut his NUTS off."

- Jesse Jackson



"Those rumors are false .... I believe in the sanctity of marriage."

- John Edwards



"I invented the Internet"

- Al Gore



"The next Person that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary beads up their ASS."

- Joe Biden



"America is--is no longer, uh, what it--it, uh, could be, uh what it was once was...uh, and I say to myself, 'uh, I don't want that future, uh, uh for my children."

- Barack Obama



"I have campaigned in all 57 states."

- Barack Obama



"You don't need God anymore, you have us democrats."

- Nancy Pelosi (said back in 2006)



"Paying taxes is voluntary."

- Sen. Harry Reid



"Bill is the greatest husband and father I know. No one is more faithful, true, and honest than he."

- Hillary Clinton (said back in 1998)



HOW LUCKY WE ARE, TO HAVE SUCH BRILLIANT

MINDS IN CHARGE OF OUR ONCE-GREAT COUNTRY!!!



"IN GOD WE TRUST!"

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Discipline

"Self-government without self-discipline is self-defeating.". -Paul Harvey

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The Transformation Of The Country

"Most of us imagine the transformation of a free society to a tyrannical state in Hollywood terms, as a melodramatic act of violence like a military coup or an armed insurrection. [Alexis de] Tocqueville knows better. He foresees a slow death of freedom. The power of the centralized government will gradually expand, meddling in every area of our lives until, like a lobster in a slowly heated pot, we are cooked without ever realizing what has happened. The ultimate horror of Tocqueville's vision is that we will welcome it, and even convince ourselves that we control it. There is no single dramatic event in Tocqueville's scenario, no storming of the Bastille, no assault on the Winter Palace, no March on Rome, no Kristallnacht. We are to be immobilized, Gulliver-like, by myriad rules and regulations, annoying little restrictions that become more and more binding until they eventually paralyze us. ... Permitting the central government to assume our proper responsibilities is not merely a transfer of power from us to them; it does grave damage to our spirit. It subverts our national character. In Tocqueville's elegant construction, it 'renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself.' Once we go over the edge toward the pursuit of material wealth, our energies uncoil, and we become meek, quiescent and flaccid in the defense of freedom." --author Michael Ledeen


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Power Grab

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
--George Washington, Circular to the States, 9 May 1753

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Corrupted Morals

"No compact among men ... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other."
--George Washington, draft of first Inaugural Address, April 1789

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Spreading The Wealth Around

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

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Healthcare Costs

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

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Make me Laugh!

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

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We Seem To Just Keep Doing This Wrong!

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)

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Government is the Problem

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

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Fiscal Responsibility

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

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Only With Proper Consideration

"No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable."
--George Washington, Message to the House of Representatives, 3 December 1793

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Prudence

"The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys."
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Shelton Gilliam, 19 June 1808

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Redistribution of Wealth

"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." --Thomas Jefferson

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Principles & Education

"Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a prediction that, after the most industrious and impartial researchers, the longest liver of you all will find no principles, institutions or systems of education more fit in general to be transmitted to your posterity than those you have received from your ancestors."
--John Adams, letter to the young men of the Philadelphia, 7 May 1798

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Ways and Means

"There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises. To say that the United States should be answerable for twenty-five millions of dollars without knowing whether the ways and means can be provided, and without knowing whether those who are to succeed us will think with us on the subject, would be rash and unjustifiable. Sir, in my opinion, it would be hazarding the public faith in a manner contrary to every idea of prudence."
--James Madison, Speech in Congress, 22 April 1790

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Tyranny & "Morality"

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
-C. S. Lewis

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Transfer of Wealth

"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

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Redistributing the Wealth

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

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Death by Taxes

"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

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Congress

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself."
-Mark Twain

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Government Power

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
- Thomas Jefferson

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The Media

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
- Mark Twain

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Education and children

"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country."
--Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788

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Have you had enough?

"I have reached the point where I have nothing but contempt for the left. And if you're of the left, too damn bad. I live my life, not trying to tell other people how to live, not trying to seize their money, to seize their assets, to seize their property. I lead my life in a way in which I don't interfere with anybody else's life and I want to be left alone by my government! I don't want my government attacking me because I earn a certain amount of money that they don't think I ought to be earning! I don't want my government taking my neighbors and throwing them out on the streets, where they're unemployed! I don't want my government imposing social policies that destroy the financial system of this country!"
--Mark Levin
12 March 2009

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The Ruin of Nations

"History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened."
--Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations

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Corruption at the Highest Levels

"A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the object of the government; secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained." --James Madison
INSIGHT

"I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. -- From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant; give them the means of detecting the wrong, and they will apply the remedy." --U.S. Senator Daniel Webster (1782-1852)

Rahm Emanuel the ballerina says, "Never allow a crisis to go to waste."

"I'm trying to come to terms with Rule No. 1 of the Obama administration. 'Rule 1: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,' White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told the New York Times right after the election. 'They are opportunities to do big things.' Over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience at the European Parliament, 'Never waste a good crisis.' Then President Obama explained in his Saturday radio and Internet address that there is 'great opportunity in the midst of' the 'great crisis' befalling America. Numerous commentators, including me, have pointed to this never-waste-a-crisis mantra as ideological evidence that Obama's budget priorities are a great bait-and-switch. He says he wants to fix the financial crisis, but he's focusing on selling his long-standing liberal agenda on health care, energy and education as the way to do it, even though his proposals have absolutely nothing to do with addressing the housing and toxic-debt problems that are the direct causes of our predicament. Indeed, some -- particularly on Wall Street -- would argue that his policies are making the crisis worse. But those policies aren't the real scandal, even though they're bad enough. The real scandal is that this administration thinks crises are opportunities for governmental power-grabs." --National Review editor Jonah Goldberg