If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
A drop of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of gall. So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free...
If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what you will, is the great high-road to his reason, and which when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
It is often easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
The great mass of people . . . will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.
An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
A civilian can afford to do what no diplomat would dare.
You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
Vote early and vote often.
One man with courage makes a majority.
Don Lemon: Democrats don't do a good job of speaking to working class people. What do you say to that? You are supposed to be fixing that. Andrew Yang: I had that experience countless times on the trail Don. Where I would say 'Hey I'm running for President' to a truck driver, retail worker, a waitress in a diner. And they would say 'What party?' and I would say Democrat. And they would flinch like I had said something really negative or like I had turned another color or something like that. And there is something deeply wrong when working class Americans have that response to a major party that theoretically is supposed to be fighting for them. So you have to ask yourself what has the Democratic party been standing for in their minds. And in their minds the Democratic party unfortunately has taken on this role of the coastal, urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life that has been declining for years. And so, if you're in that situation, this to me is a fundamental problem for the Democratic party, because if they don't figure this out then this polarization and division will get worse not better. Don Lemon: Is that real, or messaging, or both? Andrew Yang: It's real. I mean Debbie just said they just lost a plant that had 1500 workers. And so if you are a laid off worker from that plant and you look up and say 'What is the Democratic party doing for me?', it's unclear. And we can talk about a unifying message from Joe Biden, he's a naturally very unifying figure, but then there's the reality on the ground where their way of life has been disintegrating for years, and if we don't address that then you're going to see a continued acceleration toward the institutional mistrust that animated the Trump vote and will continue to do so.
We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man and are “a positive good” and not, as Thomas Paine proclaimed, “a necessary evil.”
With Judicial Activism, if we can stack the courts with judges who agree with an "evolving meaning constitution" instead of an "original meaning constitution" the job of social change is even that much more easily accomplished.
The founding Fathers knew societies change which is exactly why they provided a formal process for altering the constitution. However, there is a deadly practice that has appeared of comparing the Constitution to a living, evolving organism. In other words, if we can change the meaning of the words, we can change the meaning of the Constitution itself, without having to go through the extremely difficult process of formal change.
Douglass was no fool. He knew to differentiate between the "greatness" of eternal principles espoused in our political philosophy, and our earned condemnation at failing to live up to those principles in practice.
YES, the Constitution of the United States can be tied directly to Jesus Christ, and, therefore, clears the bar of appropriateness in ANY Church setting—including temple dedications and services. With all the political troubles going on today, increasingly there are Latter-day Saints who believe that what is needed today is for a modern-day Captain Moroni to rise up among us and hoist a “title of liberty” in the air for all us to rally behind, (Alma 46:13, 36), This sentiment is an enormous error on our part … our Latter-day Captain Moroni has already arrived, but he was a General … George Washington who was unanimously elected to preside over the Constitutional Convention. The “title of liberty” for our day has already been hoisted and it is called the Constitution of the United States.
The principle of freedom (our rights and privileges) depends, on our seeking out, electing, and upholding honest, wise and good men…anything less than this, also, cometh of evil.
The constitution is not just an American document but is a freedom document that belongs to ALL mankind.
Can you get any more of a direct tie to Christ than Him personally claiming full responsibility and ownership of the Constitution? Jesus Christ, then, is the ultimate Founding Father and ought to be recognized as such if we are to fully appreciate the divinely inspired nature of the Constitution.
Latter-day Saints are not anarchists, or anti-government. As long as there is a Constitutional path for a redress of our grievances (violations of the rights and privileges) then we are to “importune for redress” to those inauthority. Natural Rights Here Christ declares the purpose … tying Latter-day Saints to the Natural Rights definition of justice. For Everyone The political principles from the Constitution are not just for Americans, but the whole world. Just and Holy If they are just and holy principles—they are eternal political principles. Rights are Required for Agency Constitutional protection of rights is essential to preserve not only our liberty but our moral agency. There can be no individual accountability without individual liberty. Slavery is Evil Slavery—human bondage—robs mankind of liberty as well as moral agency, and is evil.
Can the topic be tied directly to Christ? If the topic can be tied directly to Jesus Christ then it clears the bar, and is deemed universally appropriate, and we should feel perfectly comfortable in discussing it in any Church setting. But, if the intended topic cannot be tied directly to Jesus Christ, then it fails to meet the standard or clear the bar, and ought not to be shared in a Church setting. In other words, “Never share a message in church without it being tied directly to Jesus Christ.”
Either the Constitution IS a divinely inspired document or it ISN’T. If it ISN’T divinely inspired, then we Latter-day Saints should stop treating it as if it IS, and we should keep such political topics outside of a church setting discussion. If it IS divinely inspired, then we Latter-day Saints should stop treating it as if it ISN’T and it would be “highly inappropriate” NOT to bring it up.
That partisan politics matter and cannot simply be ignored as an "everyone wins" scenario is self-evident. In the case of the Freemen and King-Men political parties, they were not simply engaged in interesting partisan politics but were in a life and death struggle between liberty and tyranny…If tyranny wins then liberty loses. Likewise, if freedom wins then authoritarianism loses.
Here's where there is no such thing as keeping out of politics. It just doesn't take a genius to "connect the dots" in both directions (forward and back-ward) in a logical connection showing what "voice of the people" means. Political parties (King-men vs Freemen) are tied directly to…Political policies (the policy to establish a King in the land or to continue the current reign of the judges), Which are tied directly to political philosophy (liberty vs. tyranny)
It doesn’t take a rocket genius to point out that there is a logical connection between one’s political philosophy, political policy, and political party.
With scriptures full of political declarations, Political neutrality, then, cannot possibly mean anything more than steering clear of partisan politics (red light) or else we Latter-day Saints end up throwing out the political baby (the particular issues and political philosophy) with the partisan bathwater.
Partisan politics matter because governments matter; governments matter because safeguarding liberty matters; safeguarding liberty matters because agency matters; and, agency matters because there can be no bringing to pass the immortality or eternal life of man without it, (Moses 1:39; D&C 93:30-31); Partisan politics, governments, liberty and agency, all matter because immortality and eternal life is at stake.
This compartmentalization of religion and politics into two distinct and totally unrelated spheres—as though our religious lives can some-how be morally disassociated from our political choices—is tantamount to admitting that religion matters whereas politics does not. But nothing could be further from the truth as is evidenced by the fact that within the Kingdom of God there are two spheres (religious and political) as we speak of being ordained priests and kings unto God, (D&C76:56). The fact is we Latter-day Saints, of all people, should take politics seriously, else why speak of becoming PRIESTS AND KINGS?
LEGAL RIGHTS: Just because all humans equally have the same natural rights, doesn't mean those rights are actually protected. Our Moral rights become legal rights only when protected and enforced through the rule of law.
Constitutional Protecting Umbrella …To secure these rights, arbitrate claims, and establish justice, governments are instituted among men. From the Eternalist perspective, our republican constitution is the protecting "umbrella" covering everyone's rights. The same constitution that protects me, also protects you.
POLITICS becomes an issue only when you introduce another human LIFE who also has individual rights with the potential to conflict and intrude upon the needs of your life. Once another person enters the scene, mutually protecting individual rights becomes the issue compared to anti-life and anti-rights issues such as theft, slavery, murder, etc. But a Moral Right doesn't necessarily mean a protected Right.
NATURAL, MORAL RIGHTS: Are based on our human nature. * We have a MORAL right to life, liberty, property ownership, and the pursuit of happiness, because we are human.… These are what we call individual or natural rights.
PRESCRIPTIVE TRUTHS… are "OUGHT" facts…They constitute Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics. IS facts have Primacy over OUGHT facts.
PRESCRIPTIVE TRUTHS… are "IS" facts …They constitute the axioms, metaphysics, and epistemology. These are the cold, hard matter of facts that exist independent of what we think about them.
We also believe in a limited government and not in an all-powerful State, for the State, like the Sabbath, was made for Man and not Man for the State. To be “a positive good” both Church and State must be of a limited nature least they become oppressive and tyrannical.
This hints at a principle that separates Latter-day Saint political philosophies from most other religions and countries. The perspective of our founding fathers and Latter-day Saint scripture is that Natural Individual Rights form the basis for any just government. This means that government is a means to an end and not an end in itself.
We have not talked about Aesthetics yet…But a quick overview is that Aesthetics is a selective representation of reality to celebrate some value you want to put on display.
Lucifer’s view of the proper role of government was through improper use of force to impose His will upon everyone else. Notice ALL the political propaganda (true and false) convey the message of holding out their hands to the future, claiming to be upholding the best thing possible for the people. Without a proper understanding of the primacy issues involved, we are likely to be deceived.
Ask yourself how well you are able to exercise your agency in North Korea, or Iran. Our political choices affect our standing before God just as they did in the great conflict in spirit world before we were born. The war in heaven was divided along partisan lines over what does or does not constitute the proper role of government, regarding agency and force. The war in heaven was between two specific political parties (Christianity and Satanity), and we were specifically instructed which political candidate to support.
It would be foolish to think that our standing before God was strictly limited to our individual moral choices, (which affect ourselves and the relatively few within our immediate influence), while our collective political choices (which affect the many and influence society on a far greater scale) are perceived to be but of little or .no account in the eyes of God.
How would you contrast the difference between the French Revolution and the American Revolution? Q: As a hint, what do you see missing from the French revolution motto? Notice Justice is conspicuously missing, which leads to errors in motive and outcome. Latter-day Saints greatly value Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood…However, none of those can have primacy without inflicting serious contradictions in our political doctrine
Absolutism of Society … This is what is called the "greatest good for the greatest number" principle. Individuals are sacrificed to the greater community. This has other names such as communism, or socialism where instead of absolute control given to a single authoritative ruler, the tyranny becomes the tyranny of the majority. …Extreme democracy also falls under this category where the majority can vote unjust restrictions upon theminority.
Absolutism of Government … This is generally what we call dictatorship. Unlimited governmental power in the hands of an absolute ruler to control all aspects of the individual and society. Q: Does the government grant rights or does the government protect rights?
Egalitarianism … Absolutism of Equality .. Unlimited or absolute equality forced upon people who are not equal in native ability, acquired talent, or individual initiative undercuts justice. Justice demands that things that are equal be treated equally, but it also demands that things that are unequal be treated unequally.
Libertarianism … is just a less extreme version of anarchy… Libertarians see government not as a value, but as a necessary evil, where the more laws we have the more our liberty is constricted. Instead of no government, they desire an extremely limited form of government, with individuals, families, and businesses providing the majority of social governance.
Absolutism of Freedom … Saying unlimited or absolute freedom is the same thing as saying "anything goes" including all kinds of unjust and evil actions. Liberty or Freedom is a very valuable good, but must be controlled by justice.
...Absolutism of Benevolence … Without justice nothing else works. God could not even have a kingdom without justice being the foundation of it.
In politics our goal should be unity. If there is opposition among us, that necessarily means that one side or both sides is espousing incorrect principles. The degree that there is opposition among us, is the degree that we are on the path to ruin.
Heaven is the least diverse place in existence…When I say "diverse" I do not mean based on race, sex, or any other physical attribute. I mean philosophically they are united. They are one. They abide by the same correct principles.
It all starts with the Axioms (Existence, Consciousness, Identity)… What we call SELF-EVIDENT FACTS … The axioms are irreducible, inescapable, invincible … They are present in every word you utter, or though you think.
“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”
The measure of a real man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
Being unable to govern events, I govern myself.
The answers given by ethics determine how man should treat other men, and this determines the fourth branch of philosophy: politics, which defines the principles of a proper social system.
Collectivism: The practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it. (Google Dictionary) Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called ‘the common good’”.
Those who seek to destroy this country, seek to disarm it - intellectually and physically. But it is not a mere political issue; politics is not the cause, but the last consequence of philosophical ideas.
I use the word ‘rightist’ to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of individual freedom and capitalism—and the word ‘leftist’ to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of government controls and socialism.
This argument runs as follows: since men are weak, fallible, non-omniscient and innately depraved, no man may be entrusted with the responsibility of being a dictator and of ruling everybody else; therefore, a free society is the proper way of life for imperfect creatures. Please grasp fully the implications of this argument: since men are depraved, they are not good enough for a dictatorship; freedom is all that they deserve; if they were perfect, they would be worthy of a totalitarian state.
If a society is to be free, its government has to be controlled.
The world conflict of today is the conflict of the individual against the state, the same conflict that has been fought throughout mankind’s history. The names change, but the essence—and the results—remain the same, whether it is the individual against feudalism, or against absolute monarchy, or against communism or fascism or Nazism or socialism or the welfare state.
And in your daily acts of citizenship, I see our future unfolding...It’s the son who finds the courage to come out as who he is, and the father whose love for that son overrides everything he’s been taught.
We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert -will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.
That's the America I know. That’s the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Undaunted by challenge. Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
The failure of the media in 2016 was written off as a fluke. They wanted to pretend that Donald Trump snuck up on them, and that there were always warning signs, and caveats, and so on. This time around, their hubris was even more evident, confidently projecting outcomes that never came.
It depends upon what the meaning of the word “is” is.
Although it is the means by which humankind discovers objective truths in nature, science is and has always been political.
“Those King-men who desired to overthrow a free government while seeking power and authority over the people, and those Freemen who had sworn to maintain the rights and privileges of a free government.” “therefore there arose a warm dispute concerning the matter, but not unto bloodshed ... this matter of their contention was settled by the voice of the people.” “And it came to pass that the voice of the people came in favor of the Freemen ... and the people of liberty.”
“What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God.”
Always when these destructive life-styles are debated, “individual right of choice” is invoked as though it were the one sovereign virtue. That could be true only if there were but one of us. The rights of any individual bump up against the rights of another. And the simple truth is that we cannot be happy, nor saved, nor exalted, without one another.
In 1980, candidate Ronald Reagan delivered one of the most unique and stunning conclusions ever to a political acceptance speech. Just at the climax, when the convention hall was energized and ready to erupt, Reagan pivoted to the need for divine help and guidance on the journey toward a better America. He then asked every citizen to join him in a moment of silent prayer. Instead of ending on a red-meat applause line, Reagan ended with divinely centered silence! We clearly could use a little more silence in our public discourse.
The path of least resistance for public discourse is to demonize your opponent and gin up your supporters with passionate but divisive language. This approach creates much heat, but little light, and keeps us a safe distance from actually solving the problems we face as a nation.
The Constitution stands as a monument to deliberate discussion and deeper dialogue.
Political power seekers know that if the American people believe that we are too divided as a nation to solve a problem, it gives Congress the excuse to do nothing and the executive branch an excuse to do whatever the president wants through executive order.
When Congress abdicates its policy power to federal bureaucrats, it rarely ends well for the American people.
Irrespective of party politics, the speeches most often recalled from history are not those of the fiery red-meat-rhetoric variety, but are instead reflective, instructive and constructive in both substance and style. Lincoln called on our “better angels,” John F. Kennedy challenged us to “ask what we can do for our country,” and Martin Luther King invited us to look at “the content of a person’s character.”
I would rather be chopped to pieces at night; and resurrected in the morning, each day throughout a period of three-score years and ten, than be deprived of speaking freely, or be afraid of doing so. I will speak for my rights.
“What does opposition bring? It certainly brings anger and strife; and of what use are they? They serve no good purpose. Then let us all vote one way, and think and act one way, and keep the commandments of God and build up His kingdom on the earth in peace and righteousness.”
“There is no such thing as confusion, division, strife, animosity, hatred, malice, or two sides to the question in the house of God; there is but one side to the question there. ... On a certain occasion there was a little confusion in heaven. … What was the result? One-third part of the hosts of heaven walked out. I do not think the election lasted a great while, if they had two candidates, and it appears they had.” (JD 13, p219)
“It has been told me from my youth up that opposition is the life of business, especially in the political arena. It is opposition that has ruined our nation, and has been, is and will be the ruin of all nations.”
Equality: The right of different groups of people to receive the same treatment.
Think of what else they've made people believe. They've persuaded us that we'll be safe if only we spend all our wealth so everybody on Earth can be killed in a moment - when the governments decide the time has come.
This planet is run by crazy people. Remember what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow, so...brief. A few years. In the best of them a few decades. They care only bout the time they are in power.
After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.
It is impossible for us to break the law. We can onlybreak ourselves against the law.
It is better to be free to do wrong than to be compelled to do right.
Every black person I know has always voted Democratic and, with the exception of a few guys who can play sports, all those people are still poor.
Liberty is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
In our sophisticated historical analyses, we tend to attribute everything to these large underlying currents, to certain political ideologies, or social changes like industrialization or the growth of women's rights and all that. But that’s missing the obvious—there’s usually a person who influenced things in a way that all the underlying forces cannot account for. In American history, (there’s) Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Reagan--they all stand out. It’s a way of looking at history that's less abstract, and is more recognizing the individual, which we tend not to do.
I was a Great Society liberal. I thought we ought to help the poor, we ought to give them all the money we can. And then, the evidence started to pour in. The evidence of how these grand programs, the poverty programs, the welfare programs--everything was making things worse. I didn't have a dog in that fight. I was willing to go where the evidence led. As a doctor, I'd been trained in empirical evidence. If the treatment is killing your patients, you stop the treatment.
America is the only country ever founded on an idea. The only country that is not founded on race or even common history. It's founded on an idea and the idea is liberty. That is probably the rarest phenomena in the political history of the world; this has never happened before. And not only has it happened, but it's worked. We are the most flourishing, the most powerful, most influential country on Earth with this system, invented by the greatest political geniuses probably in human history.
In the end, all the beautiful, elegant things in life, the things that I care about, the things that matter, depend on getting the politics right. Because in those societies where they get it wrong, everything else is destroyed, everything else is leveled.
I've calmed down a bit from where I thought: this is it, it’s the end, we're done. I’ve sort of accepted the fact that there's an organic evolution to society, and as long as we keep civil society strong and in constraint to some extent, we're going to do okay. So I guess you could say I've become a mellow conservative.
When life becomes an extended picnic, with nothing to do, ideas of greatness become an irritant.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
But politics is often won by the simple argument or the easier-to-remember summation.
We can debate issues without degrading each other's character.
So near is falsehood to the truth, that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.
Today, adults are told fairy stories, fables, legends, and myths, and a large number of them apparently believe them. Many men apparently believe that government is a kind of Santa Claus who can bestow goods for which there is no charge, that in a democracy people may legitimately play Robin Hood by taking from the rich to give to the poor, that we have solved the problems of production and that the good fairies will continue to produce goods when the incentives to production have been removed, and that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which the politician describes if only we will follow his policies.
Racial discrimination is not a permissible solution. That can only weaken the principle of equality embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Equal Protection Clause. Show me in the Constitution where you get a right to separate citizens based on race. I think what we've become comfortable with is thinking that there is some good discrimination, and some bad discrimination. Well, who gets to determine that? And if you look in the briefs and the race cases, the segregationists, the people who thought you should have a separate system, they said that they thought it was good for both races. So they thought it was good discrimination.
Clarence Thomas: What I was told that they needed cover for the women's groups to oppose me. So they needed the NAACP out front. (News Clip 1: "Write your senators and representatives. Tell them Clarence Thomas is unacceptable. He has indicated that he believes in Natural Law, and he does not believe in privacy." News Clip 2 (Flo Kennedy): We don't need a lot of questions to be asked before we Bork this guy. We simply, immediately Bork him. News Clip 3: We want you to organize pickets at their offices, follow them from the airport to the supermarket. News Clip 4 (Patricia Ireland): There is substantial opposition to Clarence Thomas. His history of supporting a judicial philosophy that is really out of step with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Clarence Thomas: We know exactly what is going on here. And to pretend it is for some other reason, stop. Do I have stupid written on the back of my shirt? Come on, we know what this is all about. This isn't about what they say it's about. People should just tell the truth. This is the wrong black guy. He has to be destroyed. Just say it. Now at least we are being honest with each other.
I felt as though in my life I had been looking at the wrong people as the people who would be problematic towards me. We were told that, oh it's going to be the bigot in the pickup truck, it's going to be the clansman, it's going to be the rural sheriff. I'm not saying there weren't some of those who were bad. But it turned out through all of that, ultimately the biggest impediment, was the modern day liberal. That they were the ones who would discount all those things because they have one issue or because they have the power to caricature you.
So I'm asking myself why are you doing this? There's nothing positive going on, and I'm getting the heck beat out of me. I have to then flip it around a little bit. For what will you die? Is there something in life that you will die for. What about your principles? So I decided that the principles on which I was raised, my grandparents , the principles of this country, were worth dying for.
Someone has a theory, and then they insert human beings into their theory. Sort of like 'have theory add people'. It's like instant coffee or something. Have coffee, add water. But I knew one thing, nobody was going to have some social experiment and throw my son in there.
Thomas Jefferson had written in 1776 'all men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator, with certain unalienable rights'. That's natural law in a nutshell. How then could a country founded on these principles have permitted slavery and segregation to exist? The answer was that it couldn't, not without being untrue to its own ideals. I was looking for a way of thinking, a set of ideals, that fundamentally, at its core says slavery is wrong. At its core. Which Natural Law of course does.
This does not mean that we agree with all that is done with the force of law. It means that we obey the current law and use peaceful means to change it.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will, of course, exercise its right to endorse or oppose specific legislative proposals that we believe will impact the free exercise of religion or the essential interests of Church organizations.
“We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and these interests it is our duty to follow.”
The United States Constitution is unique because God revealed that He “established” it “for the rights and protection of all flesh” (D&C 101:77,80). That is why this constitution is of special concern for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world. Whether or how its principles should be applied in other nations of the world is for them to decide.
And our article of faith, written by the Prophet Joseph Smith after the early Saints had suffered severe persecution from Missouri officials, declares, "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" (Articles of Faith 1:12). This does not mean that we agree with all that is done with the force of law. It means that we obey the current law and use peaceful means to change it. It also means that we peacefully accept the results of elections. We will not participate in the violence threatened by those disappointed with the outcome. In a democratic society we always have the opportunity and the duty to persist peacefully until the next election.
Our belief that the United States Constitution was divinely inspired does not mean that divine revelation dictated every word and phrase...
“The world in which we live would benefit greatly if men and women everywhere would exercise the pure love of Christ, which is kind, meek, and lowly. It is without envy or pride. … It seeks nothing in return. … It has no place for bigotry, hatred, or violence. … It encourages diverse people to live together in Christian love regardless of religious belief, race, nationality, financial standing, education, or culture.”
This nation’s history of racism is not a happy one, and we must do better.
we are to follow the laws of men (render unto Caesar) to live peacefully under civil authority, and we follow the laws of God toward our eternal destination.
However, we do not see inspiration in every Supreme Court decision interpreting the Constitution.
At the other extreme, a minority of participants and supporters of these protests and the illegal acts that followed them seem to have forgotten that the protests protected by the Constitution are peaceful protests. Protesters have no right to destroy, deface, or steal property or to undermine the government’s legitimate police powers. The Constitution and laws contain no invitation to revolution or anarchy. All of us—police, protesters, supporters, and spectators—should understand the limits of our rights and the importance of our duties to stay within the boundaries of existing law. Abraham Lincoln was right when he said, “There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.”12 Redress of grievances by mobs is redress by illegal means. That is anarchy, a condition that has no effective governance and no formal police, which undermines rather than protects individual rights.
We live in a time of anger and hatred in political relationships and policies. We felt it this summer when some went beyond peaceful protests and engaged in destructive behavior. We feel it in some current campaigns for public offices. Unfortunately, some of this has even spilled over into political statements and unkind references in our Church meetings.
When we are trying to understand and relate to people of a different culture, we should try getting to know them.
Loyalty to established law instead of temporary “allies” is the best way to love our adversaries and our enemies as we seek unity in diversity.
Without a Bill of Rights, America could not have served as the host nation for the Restoration of the gospel, which began just three decades later.
As citizens and as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we must do better to help root out racism.
Diplomacy is the art of letting someone have your way.
One key realization is that for most faith communities, gathering for worship, ritual, and fellowship is essential; it is not merely an enjoyable social activity.
Gathering, in short, is at the core of faith and religion. Indeed, if the faithful are not gathering, sooner or later they will begin to scatter. And because gathering lies at the very heart of religion, the right to gather lies at the very heart of religious freedom.
I believe it is vital for us to recognize that the sweeping governmental restrictions that were placed on religious gatherings at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis truly were extraordinary. In what seemed like an instant, most Western governments and many others simply banned communal worship. These restrictions eliminated public celebrations of Easter, Passover, Ramadan, and other holy days around the world. No other event in our lifetime—and perhaps no other event since the founding of this nation—has caused quite this kind of widespread disruption of religious gatherings and worship.
COVID-19 has alerted us to many attacks on the freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly.
If we stop yelling long enough to listen, I think we can work some things out.
COVID-19 has alerted us to the importance of defending the borders between personal liberty, constitutional rights, and governmental authority.
This present crisis may well be a moment when we too “come to ourselves” and realize, perhaps as never before, just how precious and fragile religious freedom is.
...everyone knows nothing gets accomplished in Washington in an election year...
There are few actions more antithetical to freedom than forcing a citizen to advance a cause he despises.
In short, an originalist court stands for a simple proposition: The Founders created an ingenious system of government. We should give it another try.
No one should believe that any judge is entirely free of ideological bias, but there is a profound difference between judges who approach a legal conflict with the question, “What does the Constitution mean?” and those who instead ask, “What does justice demand?”
Political correctness is the biggest issue facing America today.
If you care about America's fate under Obama, naturally you are angry; voters should distrust a candidate who is not angry.
Mainstream reporters can't see the crucial importance of political correctness because they are wholly immersed in it, can't conceive of questioning it; it is the very stuff of their thinking, their heart's blood.
I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me - not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say - 'This, with God's help, I have done.' All this is what it means to be an American.
Politically Incorrect: a truth that people on the left find too painful to acknowledge and therefore do not want expressed.
That the conservative secular individual at least needs to respect the importance of God and religion in American history and to conservatism the truth is conservatism will not succeed if it remains godless for more than a two generations it's just not because God will punish you or any nonsense like that but because America is rooted in the notion that our rights come from God it's in a declaration of independence our rights don't come from government that's the whole revolution of the American Revolution rights don't come from people rights come from something higher than people if a conservative cannot accept that I understand that but it's a problem for conservatism meaning conserving the American value system which is I call the American Trinity, on every coin 'in God we trust' 'e pluribus unum' from many one and 'liberty' the belief was that God wants us free this is the greatness of the American Revolution God wants us free that that was remarkable and they got that idea from the Torah from the third book of the Bible Leviticus which is on the Liberty Bell
I have much more in common with a conservative atheist than I do with the left-wing Jew.
America's Founders understood clearly what it means to accomplish a goal on behalf of ideas and principles that rise above self-interest.
Liberty: Freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.
Benevolence: The quality of being well meaning; kindness, desire to do good to others; goodwill; charitableness.
And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. 6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; 7 And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil. 8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free. 9 Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. 10 Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.
“We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.”
“We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments…”
“We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.”
They're becoming the party of socialism, late-term abortion, open borders and crime.
Protecting and respecting religious freedom serves as a training ground for protecting and respecting other human rights and freedoms. It teaches us that government has limits: that there are aspects of life that are so sensitive and personal that the coercive jurisdiction of the state must yield to the jurisdiction of the sacred and individual conscience.
The freedom to express beliefs about God, which took centuries of struggle to establish, also supports the right to express opinions about morality, society, politics, literature, art, science, or virtually any other subject. The hard-won religious rights to peacefully assemble for worship or to print religious literature also support the rights to assemble for political, social, cultural and familial reasons or to print books or newspapers addressing a host of subjects.
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
Originalism is racist. Originalism is sexist. Originalism is homophobic. Originalism is just a fancy word for discrimination.
People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.
Be not decieved with the first appearance of things, for show is not substance.
Eric Holder (Attorney General): "I hear these things about 'let’s make America great again' and I think to myself, exactly when did you think America was great? Exactly when did you think America was great? It certainly wasn’t when people were enslaved. It certainly wasn’t when women didn’t have the right to vote. It certainly wasn’t when the LGBT community was denied the rights to which it was entitled. Ari Melber (MSNBC Interviewer): Does that phrase echo as discrimination in your ears? Eric Holder: "It takes us back to, I think, an American past that never in fact really existed..."
Politicians... ya know it is very easy for them to give out money because it make them popular at that moment. But they're not thinking about what they're leaving our country.
There's no such things as not voting. Not voting is voting. It's voting to hand your power over to someone else who's gonna say, 'Thank you very much. Let me take that voice and that power and exercise it in your name, but in my interests.'
One of our most serious problems is the inferiority complex which people feel when they are not informed and organized. They dare not make a decision on these vital issues. They let other people think for them. They stumble around in the middle of the road to avoid being "controversial" and get hit by the traffic going both ways. To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look. Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. It can help to save your soul -- and maybe your country. The days ahead are sobering and challenging and will demand the faith, prayers and loyalty of every American.
This communist convention issued an edict that the rising tide of patriotism and anti-communism must be smashed -- especially in the United States. All the tricks of the hate propaganda and smear tactics were to be unleashed on the heads of American patriots. Now, if the communists had been forced to do this job themselves, it would have been an utter failure. Americans would have simply closed ranks and united. But what mixes up so many people was the fact that the attack on patriotism and the smear of the anti-communist movement did not come in the name of Moscow. It came in the name of influential Americans who espoused the socialist-communist line. This was a minority bloc of American liberals who formed a propaganda coalition with the communists. Their strategy was ingenious. Almost overnight they drew the line of fire away from the communist conspiracy and focused the heat of attack on the patriots. ... They had frightened uninformed citizens away from study groups and patriotic rallies. They had made it popular to call patriotism a "controversial" subject which should not be discussed in school assemblies or churches.
“I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed his stamp of approval on the constitution of this land.”
Another recent development has been the call for national unity. I believe there needs to be a unity in our land. But it must not be blind, senseless, irresponsible unity. It should not be unity just for the sake of unity. It needs to be a unity built on sound principles. We Americans have strayed far from sound principles -- morally, constitutionally, and historically.
It is true that digital markets exhibit certain features that distinguish them from conventional ones. For one thing, the coin of the realm is data. Once a company such as Amazon or Google has amassed data on hundreds of millions of users, it can move into completely new markets and beat established firms that lack similar knowledge. For another thing, such companies benefit greatly from so-called network effects. The larger the network gets, the more useful it becomes to its users, which creates a positive feedback loop that leads a single company to dominate the market. Unlike traditional firms, companies in the digital space do not compete for market share; they compete for the market itself. First movers can entrench themselves and make further competition impossible. They can swallow up potential rivals, as Facebook did by purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp.
Big Tech’s critics now include both Democrats who fear manipulation by domestic and foreign extremists and Republicans who think the large platforms are biased against conservatives.
Since 2016, Americans have woken up to the power of technology companies to shape information. These platforms have allowed hoaxers to peddle fake news and extremists to push conspiracy theories. They have created “filter bubbles,” an environment in which, because of how their algorithms work, users are exposed only to information that confirms their preexisting beliefs. And they can amplify or bury particular voices, thus having a disturbing influence on democratic political debate. The ultimate fear is that the platforms have amassed so much power that they could sway an election, either deliberately or unwittingly.
Such rules are designed to address one of the most potent sources of platform power: the more data a platform has, the easier it is to generate more revenue and even more data.
Since digital platforms both wield economic power and control communication bottlenecks, these companies have become a natural target...
The public should be alarmed by the growth and power of dominant Internet platforms, and there is good reason why policymakers are turning to antitrust law as a remedy. But that is only one of several possible responses to the problem of concentrated private economic and political power.
Digital platforms’ concentrated economic and political power is like a loaded weapon sitting on a table. At the moment, the people sitting on the other side of the table likely won’t pick up the gun and pull the trigger. The question for U.S. democracy, however, is whether it is safe to leave the gun there, where another person with worse intentions could come along and pick it up. No liberal democracy is content to entrust concentrated political power to individuals based on assumptions about their good intentions. That is why the United States places checks and balances on that power.
In view of the dim prospects of a breakup, many observers have turned to “data portability” to introduce competition into the platform market. Just as the government requires phone companies to allow users to take their phone numbers with them when they change networks, it could mandate that users have the right to take the data they have surrendered from one platform to another. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the powerful EU privacy law that went into effect in 2018, has adopted this very approach, mandating a standardized, machine-readable format for the transfer of personal data.
Consider also that the platforms—Amazon, Facebook, and Google, in particular—possess information about individuals’ lives that prior monopolists never had. They know who people’s friends and family are, about people’s incomes and possessions, and many of the most intimate details of their lives. What if the executive of a platform with corrupt intentions were to exploit embarrassing information to force the hand of a public official?
More broadly, such laws would close the door on a horse that has long since left the barn. The technology giants have already amassed vast quantities of customer data. As the new Department of Justice lawsuit indicates, Google’s business model relies on gathering data generated by its different products—Gmail, Google Chrome, Google Maps, and its search engine—which combine to reveal unprecedented information on each user. Facebook has also collected extensive data about its users, in part by allegedly obtaining some data on users when they were browsing other sites. If privacy laws prevented new competitors from amassing and using similar data sets, they would run the risk of simply locking in the advantages of these first movers.
Data portability faces a number of obstacles, however. Chief among them is the difficulty of moving many kinds of data. Although it is easy enough to transfer some basic data—such as one’s name, address, credit card information, and email address—it would be far harder to transfer all of a user’s metadata. Metadata includes likes, clicks, orders, searches, and so on. It is precisely these types of data that are valuable in targeted advertising. Not only is the ownership of this information unclear; the information itself is also heterogeneous and platform-specific. How exactly, for example, could a record of past Google searches be transferred to a new Facebook-like platform?
Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side.
Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us [slaves]? … There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”
“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too — great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. … I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. … for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. … They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Mark them!”
“I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”
Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.
Never make a promise in haste.
Getting involved in politics, having never been involved in politics before, I held a lot of people in this country on pedestals and then I get to meet them up front and personal and I find out that they're all about getting re-elected, that they're not about issues, a lot of empty suits that I held up on pedestals.
A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.
A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field.
George Orwell: “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’”
The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved...
A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
A good plan violently executed right now is worth a hundred perfect plans put off until next week.
“It is in politics as in religion. There are a great many men who make a profession of politics, professing to understand, to act upon, and to stand upon certain political principles, which are embodied in their platforms, of which, however, they are really ignorant.”
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for it is better to be alone than in bad company.
The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity.
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.
When the fox preaches, look to the geese.
What is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
Rights: A moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.
The K-12 educational system and U.S. parental attitudes must change. The school system is more intersted in making students self-satisfied than self-motivated - the "you're all winners!" mind set. That's a constant, creeping de-motivator, both for the kids who work the hardest and win and for those who would otherwise get a wake-up call by losing.
There are no such things as divine, immutable or inalienable rights. Rights are things we get when we are strong enough to make good our claim to them.
It is no true optimism to declare the world is a good world when it is not. It is for us rather to insist that it shall be made good, and exert ourselves to bring it out.
Peace and prosperity will come when we realize, and incorporate into our lives the truth that we live by each other and for each other and not unto ourselves.
University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
Expedients are for the hour; principles for the ages.
The wolf can change his appearance, but not his appetite.
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.
It doesn't take any foreign government, whether it be Iran or Russia or North Korea or China or whoever it may be, to be able to reach into our system and change hardly anything. If it gives the appearance they could have changed something, whoever the loser is will say 'maybe I should have won.' That creates instability and it is really what the Russians are interested in.
But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
The fact that this election turned out to come down to the wire is a stunning rebuke of both the mainstream polling industry and the media in general. Across the board it appears that major pollsters got state after state wrong, and often by large margins.
It’s no mystery why black activists want to keep the focus on white racism. It helps them raise money and stay relevant. And it’s no mystery why politicians use the same tactics—it helps them win votes.
Actions to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends.
Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire.
People look at the political system and they think of it as a foreign object. They really do. They talk about politics and government as though it's something removed from their lives. And that makes it harder to change our political system and to restore our democracy if people are disengaged from it
What I fear is that people, kind of looking down their nose, will say the people that are supporting Donald Trump are a bunch of idiots. They're not. They're legitimately scared. They're fearful. They're not as optimistic for legitimate reasons and there should be respect for that.
He can literally wake up - I have this vision of him in, you know, silk pajamas, with his little slippers on with a 'T' on his emblem. He wakes up and he sends out a tweet ripping, you know, someone a new one...He's the first guy that's ever been allowed to call into everything but 'Meet the Press.' I think they even relented. So he has been a master at how you get into the media, the new media, the diverse media that exists today in a way that had never been done before.
No great and prosperous nation can have both a generous welfare system and great prosperity, and open borders. Such a policy is radical, it's dangerous, it's never been adopted here, or any other major nation that I am aware of, so it must be rejected out of hand, and the American people have done so.
We all know that a lot of those crossing our borders are leaving a difficult life. Asylum was never meant to provide escape from all the problems people face every day around the world.
We will send a clear message to the world that the lawless practices are over. The world will know what our rules are, and great numbers will no longer undertake a dangerous journey.
Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.
76 And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their enemies [Missouri 1833], it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you— 77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; 78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. 79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
“Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.”
By respecting the rights of others, we guarantee our own.
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
I believe every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession a duty.
You all need to know that America is not sending their best and brightest, you know, to Washington D.C. Sometimes you literally can't believe these people are making the decisions that are determining the government here. It's actually scary too.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
"A (political) campaign is a small, frantic business thrown together under great pressure and with the knowledge that it will have a very short life. The full-time staff works brutal hours for low pay. The volunteers are invaluable but not always dependable. A forceful and decisive campaign manager is crucial."
The State of Nature has a Law of Nature to govern it, which obliges everyone: And Reason, which is that Law, teaches all Mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions.
“We have got to establish a government upon the principle of righteousness, justice, truth and equality and not according to the many false notions that exist among men.”
“If we look at the very foundation of government, we may enquire, How were governments formed? Who organized them? and whence did they obtain their power? It is a subject for deep thought and reflection, and one that very few have understood.”
Power doesn't cede itself, and unless we can figure out a better way to balance out that power … we'll be vulnerable.
Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.
You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
“May those principles, which were so honorably and nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our land, by our fathers, be established forever.”
Our nation, which possesses greater resources than any other, is rent, from center to circumference, with party strife, political intrigues, and sectional interest; our counselors are panic stricken, our legislators are astonished, and our senators are confounded, our merchants are paralyzed, our tradesmen are disheartened, our mechanics out of employ, our farmers distressed, and our poor crying for bread, our banks are broken, our credit ruined, and our states overwhelmed in debt, yet we are, and have been in peace...
“We say that God is true; that the Constitution of the United States is true; that the Bible is true; and that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Christ is true.”
“The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner ... It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun.”
The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner.
Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt of, not swallowed.
To speak of a president “obstructing” Congress is to speak of spotting a unicorn. It is a nonsensical fantasy. And leveling the very allegation, in the first instance, evinces a fundamental constitutional illiteracy.
Our tripartite separation-of-powers edifice was hardly devised for the purpose of ensuring amiability between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. On the contrary, the Framers envisioned a national government in which the three branches existed in a state of continuous, unyielding tension with one another.
In particular, the two political branches — Congress and the executive branch — were meant to be jealous guardians of their own ambits and spheres of influence. Ceaseless tussling between them was to be the norm. “Ambition,” James Madison told us in Federalist 51, “must be made to counteract ambition.”
Accordingly, inter-branch political showdowns are routine. The president can veto legislation. Congress, using its power-of-the-purse prerogative, can defund presidential priorities. And so forth. Each branch has various tools at its disposal to help “counteract [the] ambition” of the other.
That is how our separation of powers is supposed to function — in a state far closer to animosity than to geniality. Which is precisely why House Democrats alleging “obstruction of Congress” as an article of impeachment makes no sense.
If the president disagrees with what Congress is doing, then he should lawfully impede or obstruct its efforts. And the proper way for Congress to push back on a frustrative president is not to resort to the extreme and uniquely anti-democratic remedy of impeachment but to simply defund his legislative priorities or perhaps force a government shutdown.
Fact is, it is wholly improper — and counter to the spirit embodied in our constitutional framework — for Congress to attempt to impeach the president for obstructing its congressional responsibilities. To pout over purported “obstruction of Congress” is to moan that the president is reasserting the truism that he is, in fact, a separate branch of government and capable of pushing back on the other branches.
By attempting to impeach the president because he wields presidential power, House Democrats reveal that it is they themselves who are the ones abusing power.
“I say to you that the price of liberty is and always has been blood, human blood, and if our liberties are lost, we shall never regain them except at the price of blood. They must not be lost!”
“[There's] the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that; the Constitution is not a living organism; it is a legal document. It says something and doesn't say other things...”
If you think what’s happened now is something, wait until you see those computers really working.
Our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy. Left intact, DACA sets a dangerous precedent by giving the executive branch sweeping authority to ignore the laws enacted by Congress and change our nation's immigration laws to suit a president's own policy preferences.
We should often be ashamed of the very best actions, if the world only saw the motives which caused them.
One does not know whether to laugh or cry. I suppose at tax time, one will have to cry.
...just as government is necessary, it is for the same reason necessary that it be limited. It cannont make angels of us. It cannot be run as if angels were in control of it.
Our Constitution gave us a government sufficiently powerful to secure the rights of its citizens, but strictly limited so it would not infringe on those rights.
“The Church’s mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral in matters of party politics. This applies in all of the many nations in which it is established ... It is customary for the Church at each [U.S.A.] national election to issue a letter to be read to all congregations encouraging its members to vote, but emphasizing the Church's neutrality in partisan political matters.”
“Modern scriptural references to the role of government: Doctrine and Covenants, Section 134”
2: “The Church does ... Reserve the right as an institution to address, in a nonpartisan way, issues that it believes have significant community or moral consequences or that directly affect the interests of the Church.”
Libertarianism: A political philosophy that takes individual liberty to be the primary political value. (Encyclopedia Britannica) Libertarians strongly oppose any government interference into their personal, family, and business decisions. Government is a necessary evil.
Unlike President Obama, President Trump did not enter the Oval Office burdened by high expectations.
Silence, indifference and inaction were Hitler's principal allies.
A good name, like goodwill, is got by many actions and lost by one.
If Ocasio-Cortez has her way, Democrats are going to do to the rest of America what they just did to New York.
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
We may draw good out of evil; we must not do evil, that good may come.
The politician that has the biggest influence on your life is probably not the politician elected in your district.
Like any business person, Trump has made mistakes – some whoppers in fact. So did Romney. Our country was founded on people who were unafraid to make whoppers. Big deal. Some of Trump’s businesses were either ugly, shady or awful. I have no interest in dealing in gambling or strip joints. For him it was just another business. Voters will have to weigh the evidence and compare those legal but unsavory businesses with the way Hillary Clinton conducted the seamy quid pro quo and crony capitalism of the Clinton Foundation. I suspect that will end up a wash with neither side getting clean.
He sees green first. At least so far as the evidence is concerned. True, he’s made terrible comments about a handicapped person and about Rosie O’Donnell and some other individual women. That makes him a jerk, not a racist, bigot or other “ists.” He seems to be an equal opportunity offender at times, and a charmer at others. Don’t know how he’ll change in the Oval Office. Could be a problem if he gives Angela Merkel a weggie or tries to high five the Pope.
Once you accept you're a child in the government nursery, why shouldn't nanny tell you what to do?
...small government gives you big freedoms.
When governments annex a huge chunk of the economy, they also annex a huge chunk of individual liberty. You fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state into something closer to that of a junkie and pusher - and you make it very difficult ever to change back.
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
In statesmanship get the formalities right, never mind about the moralities.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it but truth.
Sad experience shows us that the political elite too often do what they can get away with. Without vigorous and enlightened opposition, they can get away with a lot.
I would also say that I believe one of the duties of the president of the United States is to role model American values in the world.
Feelings are powerful. According to research, 95% of our decisions are based on subconscious factors - like how we feel. Not logic. Not what you "know" is right. We make decisions based on what we feel in the moment.
Anger is a powerful emotion. What Trump represents is real. Concern about Hillary's ability to fix a system she's been inside of her whole career is real.
This election isn't about greatness, the future, or even Donald Trump. It's about defiance. To his supporters, a vote for Trump is a way to flip the middle finger to the system, the media, the elite, the liberals, the know-it-alls and the people who pretend they're better than us.
The legacy of being a minority religious group that was alienated, threatened and driven from their homes is a very strong piece of the modern Mormon identity.
Society: A grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests.
Politics: The total complex of relations between people living in society.
Justice: The impartial adjustment of conflicting claims, the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.
Government: The organization of political institutions, officials, laws, and customs through which the function of governing is carried out in a state, community, society, etc.
Our political system is designed for vigorous disagreement. It is not designed for vigorous contempt. Such contempt loosens the ties of citizenship and undermines the idea of patriotism.
Tell me what company you keep, and I'll tell you what you are.
The people did not want a politician. The people wanted to be seen. Donald Trump convinced those people that he could see them. Hillary Clinton did not.
What can I say? I work for half-a-dozen different companies, none of whom pay me to share my political opinions. I run a non-partisan foundation, I’m about to launch a new show on Facebook, and I’m very aware that celebrities pay a price for opening their big fat gobs.
Everyone agreed that Dirty Jobs was total "off-brand" and completely inappropriate for Discovery. Everyone but the viewers. The ratings were just too big to ignore, so the pilot got a green-light, and yours truly got a steady gig. But here's the thing - Dirty Jobs didn't resonate because the host was incredibly charming. It wasn't a hit because it was gross, or irreverent, or funny or silly, or smart, or terribly clever. Dirty Jobs succeeded because it was authentic. It spoke directly and candidly to a big chunk of the country that non-fiction networks had been completely ignoring. In a very simple way, Dirty Jobs said "Hey - we can see you," to millions of regular people who had started to feel invisible.
Let’s try something new. Let’s run America like a business, where no colors matter. Whoever can do the job, gets the job.
Disobeying the law in pursuit of religious freedom will leave believers empty-handed. A healthy respect for just laws lays the best foundation for a lawful reform of unjust laws.
“…justice is the supreme value, a greater good than either liberty or equality, and one that must be appealed to for the rectification of errors with regard to liberty and equality.”
In discussing the philosophical branch of politics, we focus on "the ideas we act on in governing our social, political, and economic affairs."
“Only justice is an unlimited good…One can want too much liberty and too much equality – more than is good for us to have in relation to our fellowmen, and more than we have any right to. Not so with justice. No society can be too just; no individual can act more justly than is good for him or for his fellowmen.”
“In politics, we will discover the primacy of justice over all other political concepts. Justice regulates our thinking about liberty and equality. … Without the guidance of justice, certain political errors are unavoidable.”
“The failure to observe and understand the need for limitations upon liberty and equality leads to serious errors about them and to irresolvable conflict between them.”
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
While he leans on the mighty arm of the Republic, his own proper strength departs from him. He loses...the capability of self support.
No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.
To the untrue man, the whole universe is false.
It's important if we the people are going to run our government, that we know what it is, how it works, and how we can participate in it.
We never gain anything or improve our own character by trying to tear down another. We have seen close friendships destroyed through words spoken and accusations made in the heat of a campaign. Tirades against men in office or against one’s opponent tend to cause our youth and others to lose faith in the individual and others in government and often even our form of government itself.
In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Since World War II, the idea that global trade enhances security and prosperity has driven most major economies. When people exchange goods across borders, the logic goes, they gain better and cheaper products and become less likely to take up arms.
If one cannot catch a bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.
Politicians are the same all over: they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf.
The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.
“What! become one in our views in regard to politics? Why not? One may say, If you undertake to carry out such views of union in regard to political affairs, you will all vote the same ticket; there will be no division nor disunion throughout all the Church organization, and would not such a state of things be antagonistic to the genius of our American government? Wherein, I would ask, would it be contrary?”
“This union exists in the eternal worlds. If you should dwell there for the period of ten millions of ages, you would see no dissension among those who dwell in yonder celestial worlds.”
In a world that includes such men as these, there is no peace until their power to murder is taken from them. Those who think we can end this war by any action other than winning it have not studied history well enough.
A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
In 2005, the top one percent of earners in the U.S. paid 39 percent of all income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent of earners paid just 3 percent. Over time, if half of the population believes that it is entitled to have someone else pay for government, we should not be surprised if public support for economic freedom continues to erode.
History teaches it is a mistake to have too many convictions, held with equal certitude and tenacity. They crowd each other out. A great leader is someone who can distinguish between the essential and the peripheral – between what must be done and what is merely desirable.
What successful statesmanship in the past teaches us, again and again, is that clarity of aim is paramount...
This idea of social justice is so dangerous because it seeks to change everything around you. In orthodox, it is the opposite, it seeks to change us. You can’t change what you don’t have.
Survivors of Hamas assault on music fest describe horrors and how they made it out alive
PEW Research: “A majority of Americans (55%) now say the U.S. Supreme Court should base its rulings on what the Constitution “means in current times,” while 41% say rulings should be based on what it “meant as originally written,” according to a recent Pew Research Center report on American democratic values.”
True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.
“When allegations are made that are detrimental and often false to either faith or religious liberty, the members of that faith and their friends of other faiths, who feel accountable to God, need to defend them in a positive statesman-like manner. … Too many do not make their positive views known when their engagement is sorely needed.”
“I would suggest that for people of your capability and training, engagement to defend religious liberty is essential... Please do this on your own volition, understanding that you will not always get things exactly right. But also understanding, that the far bigger mistake would be to sit silently by.”
My plea today is that all religions join together to defend faith and religious freedom in a manner that protects people of diverse faith as well as those of no faith. We must not only protect our ability to profess our own religion, but also protect the right of each religion to administer its own doctrines and laws.
When allegations are made that are detrimental and often false to either faith or religious liberty, the members of that faith and their friends of other faiths, who feel accountable to God, need to defend them in a positive statesman-like manner. … Too many do not make their positive views known when their engagement is sorely needed.
I would suggest that for people of your capability and training, engagement to defend religious liberty is essential... Please do this on your own volition, understanding that you will not always get things exactly right. But also understanding, that the far bigger mistake would be to sit silently by.
When you vote to pass out free money, you lose your soul and you abandon forever any semblance of moral or fiscal integrity.
Under a Democratic Constitution, the only individual rights that are legally enforceable are a product of majoritarian will…So under a Democratic Constitution, first comes government and then comes rights.
A Republican Constitution views the natural and inalienable rights of these joint and equal sovereign individuals as preceding the formation of governments, so first comes rights and then comes government.
At its core, this debate is about the meaning of the first three words of the constitution: "We the People." Those who favor the Democratic Constitution view "We the People" as a group, as a body, as a collective entity. Those who favor the Republican Constitution view "We the People" as individuals. This choice of visions has enormous real-world consequences.
It is important to recognize that the Democratic and Republican views of popular sovereignty and We the People are ultimately incompatible.
Under a Republican Constitution, to ensure that these servants remain within their just powers, this lawmaking power itself must be limited by law. The Republican constitution then provides the law that governs those who govern us and it is put in writing so it can be enforced against the servants of the people, each of whom must swear a solemn oath to obey "this constitution."…In short, under a republican Constitution, the meaning of the written constitution must remain the same until it is properly changed - which is another way of saying that the written constitution must be interpreted according to its original meaning until it is properly amended.
A Democratic Constitution is a living constitution whose meaning evolves to align with contemporary popular desires, so that today's majority is not bound by what is called "the dead hand of the past." The will of yesterday's majority cannot override the will of the majority today.
Were the founders really against democracy? You bet. They blamed the problems in the states under the Articles of Confederation on an excess of democracy.
The fact that our Republican Constitution has democratic elements does not make it what I am calling a Democratic Constitution. The bare fact that a particular form of government has elected legislators or an elected president does not by itself tell us whether it is a democracy or a republic. Representative government is consistent with both conceptions of popular sovereignty.
A Republican Constitution views sovereignty as residing in the people as individuals. If one views the views of We the People as a collection of individuals, a completely different constitutional picture emerges.
Americans today are divided politically, ideologically, and culturally…Americans are also divided about the constitution itself.
The reaction from some ideological quarters is, in the face of malfeasance, to label capitalism and profits as inherently evil. For a government official not to understand that the government makes money via taxation, on profits, and therefore highly profitable companies are actually a good thing for humanity, shows a frightening disconnect between ideology and reality.
Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us.
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
I'm convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority. Very simply, they want to be left alone in peace and safety to take care of the family by earning an honest dollar and putting away some savings. This may not sound too exciting, but there is something magnificent about it. On the farm, on the street corner, in the factory and in the kitchen, millions of us ask nothing more, but certainly nothing less than to live our own lives according to our values — at peace with ourselves, our neighbors and the world.
When dictators come to power, the first thing they do is take away the people's weapons. It makes it so much easier for the secret police to operate, it makes it so much easier to force the will of the ruler upon the ruled.
Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power.
There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism — government.
The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom...
Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
For many years now, you and I have been shushed like children and told there are no simple answers to the complex problems which are beyond our comprehension. Well, the truth is, there are simple answers, they just are not easy ones.
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
Where, then, is the road to peace? Well, it's a simple answer after all. You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance.
Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary. Well, if it's a definition he wants, I'll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery.
If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand — the ultimatum.
With regard to the freedom of the individual for choice with regard to abortion, there's one individual who's not being considered at all. That's the one who is being aborted. And I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.
Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one."
Let's set the record straight. There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace — and you can have it in the next second — surrender.
They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory.
I believe with all my heart that our first priority must be world peace, and that use of force is always and only a last resort, when everything else has failed, and then only with regard to our national security.
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Honey, I forgot to duck.
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.
From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none — not one regime — has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root....If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly....
Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that's now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated.
When the chips are down and the decisions are made as to who the candidates will be, then the 11th commandment prevails and everybody goes to work, and that is: Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.
With the destructive power of today's weapons, keeping the peace is not just a goal; it's a sacred obligation. But maintaining peace requires more than sincerity and idealism—more than optimism and good will. As you know well, peace is a product of hard, strenuous labor by those dedicated to its preservation. It requires realism, not wishful thinking.
The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.
And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man.
If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.
There can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us.
We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project.
There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother to us all.
Yes, because for many years I was a Democrat.
Abraham Lincoln freed the black man. In many ways, Dr. King freed the white man. How did he accomplish this tremendous feat? Where others — white and black — preached hatred, he taught the principles of love and nonviolence. We can be so thankful that Dr. King raised his mighty eloquence for love and hope rather than for hostility and bitterness. He took the tension he found in our nation, a tension of injustice, and channeled it for the good of America and all her people.
So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.
I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.
History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense.
I know what I'm about to say now is controversial, but I have to say it. This nation cannot continue turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the taking of some 4,000 unborn children's lives every day. That's one every 21 seconds. One every 21 seconds. We cannot pretend that America is preserving her first and highest ideal, the belief that each life is sacred, when we've permitted the deaths of 15 million helpless innocents since the Roe versus Wade decision. 15 million children who will never laugh, never sing, never know the joy of human love, will never strive to heal the sick, feed the poor, or make peace among nations. Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights. We are all infinitely poorer for their loss.
You'd be surprised how much being a good actor pays off.
The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.
I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.
It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem
I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to ensure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves.
All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.
Posative politics is the art of influence and persuasion.
The best ideas and theories are those developed by defeating the counter-hypothesis.
Asking many people with the same perspective only amplifies the errors that they have and you have.
Surprises, insights, and great discoveries come from challenging prevailing wisdom, ideas, and perspectives.
Learning requires asking questions. Asking hard questions requires examining what you believe and why it might be wrong. Humble yourself and re-examine your ideas; it will make you a better decision maker.
Don’t seek why you are right, but rather examine how you might be wrong.
I can't imagine what this place would be - I can't imagine what the country would be - with Donald Trump as our president. For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be - I don't even want to contemplate that.
He [Trump] is a faker...He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego.
Imagine if all nine justices announced their presidential preferences in the advance of each election. Imagine further that they took sides in primary battles, too. It's folly to pretend that judges and justices have no political views, or that their legal views are entirely separate from their judicial philosophies. But there is value in at least formal neutrality in these most partisan battles. Any smart lawyer - or smart citizen - can see that. So, in short order, will Ginsburg.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
Secret thoughts and open countenance will go safely over the whole world.
It was all very confusing. So I pushed on. And the more research I did, the clearer the picture became. Israel has free speech, a free press, and independent courts. It has open and fair elections. Its neighbors don't. Women have full rights and are active in every profession, including the military. That's not true of any of its neighbors.
We all know that every nation is ultimately at the mercy of its families...If families are riddled with problems, society eventually collapses under the weight of problems too vast for any government to meet. If families are strong, society is strong.
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.
“In 1996 I was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin. The History Club there asked me to participate in a panel discussion on "Political Correctness and the University." The professor seated next to me taught American political thought. I remarked to her that when I began teaching I had required students to read five or six books each semester, but I had cut that back to three or four or else the students would drop my course. She said she had the same problem. She had dropped Thomas Jefferson’s writings from the required reading list. ‘You are … being paid by the citizens of Wisconsin to teach their children American political thought, and you leave out Tom Jefferson?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘He was a slaveholder.’ More than half the large audience applauded.”
learn how to be opponents without being enemies...One thing that helps me avoid becoming enemies is to emphasize what I am for rather than approaching a situation as being against something...For some that translates into automatically being "against" something or having hateful feelings towards those with an opposing agenda.
Gerrymandering has already been weaponised by sophisticated computer modelling, but we haven’t seen anything yet.
The irony is that minimum wages are a bad way to combat poverty. The Congressional Budget Office reckons that only one-fifth of the income benefits go to those beneath the poverty line.
What is more, a minimum wage is not free. Someone must pay. The common refrain that companies will shoulder the burden is the product of hope rather than evidence. If the cost is passed on to consumers, the minimum wage turns into a subsidy funded by a sales tax—a revenue-raiser that, again, falls heavily on the poor.
By moving towards sharply higher minimum wages, policymakers are accelerating into a fog. Little is known about the long-run effects of modest minimum wages. And nobody knows what big rises will do, at any time horizon. It is reckless to assume that because low minimum wages have seemed harmless, much larger ones must be, too. One danger is that a high minimum wage will push some workers out of the labour force for good. A building worker who loses his job in a recession can expect to find a new one when the economy picks up. A cashier with few skills who, following the introduction of a high minimum wage, becomes permanently more expensive than a self-service checkout machine will have no such luck.
The British government’s defence of its new policy—that a strong economy will generate enough jobs to replace those lost to a higher minimum wage—is disingenuous: the jobs are still lost. That is why Milton Friedman described minimum wages as a form of discrimination against the low-skilled.
Nuclear experts estimate that Israel has between 80 and 200 warheads, more than enough to deter would-be attackers. The dilemma facing Israel is whether to close the ageing reactor that helped build them. If it does, it would be unlikely to get the materials needed to build a new one, since it has never signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which came into force in 1970.
For nearly six decades, Israel’s policy of “nuclear opacity” has served it well. Its Arab neighbors are convinced it is a nuclear power, but Israel clings to the ambiguous formulation that it “will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the region”, neither acknowledging nor denying its capabilities. With powerful neighbors still openly advocating its destruction, the Jewish state will keep its doomsday weapons.
There is no common European people to act as the subject of democratic politics, and different nations do not trust each other enough to create one...Eurosceptics have a valid case against the EU, but not because its leaders are “unelected bureaucrats”. Rather, its bureaucrats are too insulated from democracy, and its democracy is not functioning well enough without a common demos to make it work.
What does a single-issue political party do when it achieves its sole goal?
No one disputes that the European Union has a “democratic deficit”: a lack of direct accountability to voters. Citizens are often unaware of how the commission and the European Parliament function, or of which groupings their parties belong to. But that is largely because making things simpler would require pooling politics in one European arena, and the politicians and citizens of different European countries do not want to do that.
Whether a piece of news spreads online does not depend on whether it is true and coherent, but whether it is surprising, shocking and confirms prejudices. It can bounce endlessly in virtual echo-chambers—even if it is patently false.
In every civilized society property rights must be carefully safeguarded; ordinarily, and in the great majority of cases, human rights and property rights are fundamentally and in the long run identical; but when it clearly appears that there is a real conflict between them, human rights must have the upper hand, for property belongs to man and not man to property
This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.
In new and wild communities where there is violence, an honest man must protect himself; and until other means of securing his safety are devised, it is both foolish and wicked to persuade him to surrender his arms while the men who are dangerous to the community retain theirs.
He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.
No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
I sincerely believe . . . that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.
We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.
Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
That which we obtain to easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods.
"Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil. In its worst state an intolerable one.“
There is something in the cause and consequence of America that has drawn on her the attention of all mankind.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
“Liberals condemn the Founders because they supposedly did not believe that all human beings are created equal, or because they supposedly betrayed their own stated belief in human equality. ‘Jefferson didn’t mean it when he wrote that all men are created equal,’ writes historian John Hope Franklin. ‘We’ve never meant it. The truth is we’re a bigoted people and always have been.’ We have seen that such falsehoods are incessantly repeated and broadcast by many of today’s leading scholars and textbooks. Historian Paul Finkelman writes that Jefferson committed ‘treason against the hopes of the world’ because he failed to do more to abolish slavery ... Leading sophisticates—writers, professors, and journalists, whatever their political persuasion—seem convinced that there was something profoundly wrong with the origins of America.”
Pollsters, the vast majority of them progressives, have become political operatives. They see their task as ginning up political support for their candidates and demoralizing the opposition. Some are profiteering as internal pollsters for political campaigns and special interests. Never again will Americans believe these “mainstream” pollsters’ predictions because they have been exposed as rank propagandists. That bleak assessment won’t make much difference to pollsters. They privately understand what their real mission has become and why they are no longer scientific prognosticators.
In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience.
I believe the moral losses of expediency always far outweigh the temporary gains.
Egalitarianism: A social philosophy advocating the removal of economic inequalities among people.
A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority (Merriam-Webster), Absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual.
Beginning in 1789, The French Revolution overthrew the monarchy and established a republic with the motto “liberty, equality, fraternity”. Notice that justice is not mentioned in the motto.
After the First French Republic was established, then came the “Reign of Terror” in which 16,594 official death sentences were issued.
“Economist Thomas Sowell argues in his book Knowledge and Decisions that since the original designers of the Constitution provided for the process of changing it, they never intended for their original words to change meaning.”
“Another common view of the Living Constitution is as synonymous with ‘judicial activism’ a phrase generally used to accuse judges of resolving cases based on their own political convictions or preferences.”
“According to the pragmatist view, the Constitution should be seen as evolving over time as a matter of social necessity. Looking solely to original meaning, when the original intent was largely to permit many practices universally condemned today, is under this view cause to reject pure originalism out of hand.”
“During the progressive era, many initiatives were promoted and fought for, but were prevented from coming to full fruition in either legislative bodies or judicial proceedings. One case in particular, Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., enraged early progressive activists hoping to achieve an income tax. This led progressives to the belief that the Constitution was unamendable, and ultimately to find a new way to achieve the desired level of progress.”
“The earliest mentions of the Constitution as "living", particularly in the context of a new way of interpreting it, comes out of Woodrow Wilson's book Constitutional Government in the United States where he wrote: ‘Living political constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and in practice.’”
Authoritarianism: The enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom. (Google Dictionary) A form of government characterized by strong central power and limited political freedoms. Individual freedoms are subordinate to the state and there is no constitutional accountability under an authoritarian regime.
Is anyone protesting for income equality in professional sports?
The greatest glory of a freeborn people is to transmit that freedom to their children.
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be ever so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.
The Republican message couldn’t have been clearer: Workers should be able to show up, clock in, earn a normal paycheck, pay the rent and feed their kids. Democrats were telling the same workers that we need to listen to science, reopening is premature, and the economy can’t be fully restored until we beat the virus. Correct! But how does that help when rent was due last week?
A politician looks to the next election, and a statesman looks to the next generation.
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.
Hamas says will allow foreigners to leave Gaza