Quotes To Ponder

Here's another group of good quotes to think about.

"Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves."
-- Thomas Jefferson --

The key here is that once people stop paying attention to government, the government starts taking advantage of them.  That should sound real familiar to you, living in 2008...

"But if we are to be told by a foreign Power ... what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little."
-- George Washington --

I look at this in the context of how much authority we should give up to the U.N.  In my opinion, we should not give them anything other than an advisory role when it comes to American sovereignty.  Barack the Obamessiah (and most of the Democrats, actually) would give them a whole lot more.  Unfortunately, most Americans think the U.N. is the way to go on many occasions and for many solutions.  It's time to start reversing that impression.

"There are many ways in which pro-choicers are [moral] relativists. Most obvious, they do not favor a choice in the case of the father of the child in the womb or the even child in the womb itself; rather, they believe that the choice goes only to one party—the mother alone. The very issue of the 'choice' is completely relativistic—as is the question of its humanity. Who decides whether the life in the womb is a baby or merely a blob of tissue that can be discarded? Who decides if it is a life? The pro-choicer affirms that this decision is not based on medical science, theology, or anything but the mother alone... Pro-choice feminists believe that the morally decisive factor in an abortion decision is the mere right to make the decision, a right restricted, but varying in (acceptable) outcome, for each and every prospective mother-to-be. The father cannot be the moral arbiter in this decision because he is not endowed with the legal right of 'choice.' The right of reproductive choice is judged the highest moral end in the equation, trumping all other rights, including a right to life for the unborn child. Does this make sense? Does it seem fair? The result is over 40 million aborted babies in America alone since 1973."
-- Paul Kengor --

This is especially timely, now that abortion has once again taken center stage in election politics.  Once again, the backward logic of this mythical 'right' of choice is not only astoundingly lacking, but it is morally relative, which means it really isn't valid from any viewpoint.  This is the slippery slope of abortion 'rights'.

"Congress is spending us into a hole. We hear about the cost of earmarks and the Iraq war. But what about 'entitlements'? That's the government's ironic term for programs that transfer money from people who earned it to people who didn't. Entitlement? How can you be entitled to someone else's money?"
-- John Stossel -- (hat tip Heavy-Handed Politics)

Stossel neatly encapsulates the error of the entitlement mentality in this short quote.  This is precisely the problem - why is anyone 'entitled' to my money (or yours)?  They're not.  If that wasn't enough, think about the logical conclusion of this mentality - what happens when more people rely on the entitlements than not?  Where do those entitlements come from when no one's left to do anything but leech off of other people's efforts?  It's a bankrupt philosophy that destroys individuals, even as it hands out the goodies.

"It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf."
-- Thomas Paine -- (hat tip Heavy-Handed Politics)

This is so true!  This is another chronic problem with liberals - they refuse to hold those who do wrong to accountability.  Whether it's evil dictators like Saddam Hussein or domestic criminals who rape and kill and get little more than a slap on the wrist, the principle applies equally well.  Furthermore, as Paine says, when someone intends to dominate, their lies ('cunning') end up being just as destructive as outright violence.  Iran anyone?  Russia?  North Korea?

"[Barack] Obama represents the merger of two of the worst aspects of Democratic politics—'60s radicalism and corrupt Chicago machine politics. With the addition of Slow Joe Biden to the ticket, Obama has added to his unsteady candidacy an epic amount of Beltway cluelessness and arrogance unsupported by anything except frequent flier miles and Delaware's love for a chuckle-headed fellow with a big smile.  Put Biden's obvious flaws aside and ask yourself how in the world Obama decided to go with Biden, and you'll quickly realize that the Democratic nominee must have been impressed with Biden on the long campaign trail of 2007 and 2008—even though voters weren't and even though Biden has no accomplishments of note after 36 years in the Senate. Biden talked a great game and dropped some very interesting place names—and this impressed Obama. Talking the talk has been the key to Obama's success, and in Slow Joe he found an older, far better traveled but equally prolix gas bag... For Obama, it is all about politics and words, elections and poses. Slow Joe is the perfect running mate on a perfect ticket for a party betting on wind to solve the energy crisis."
-- Hugh Hewitt --

'Nuff said.

"There are two other issues with which Mr. Obama must grapple, and far from helping with any of these, Mr. Biden actually makes Mr. Obama's path more difficult. The first is that Mr. Obama's other big challenge is convincing moderate Americans he shares their values. He is already seen by many as a liberal, big-city politician who says people cling to guns and religion out of bitterness, associates with radicals, and attended a church with a radical theology. Mr. Biden is a fierce foe of gun rights, ardently opposes restrictions on abortion that have widespread support and promotes gay rights. He supports higher taxes, bigger government and socialized healthcare. That doesn't exactly help Mr. Obama with blue-collar voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The second is Mr. Biden's lack of executive experience. Not only has he never been a governor or a cabinet secretary, he has never been a mayor, an agency head, or served in any other executive role, not even prosecutor or military officer. Given that Mr. Obama also lacks that experience, having two career legislators heading the executive branch of our government might create doubts. ... More broadly, it cuts against Mr. Obama's central campaign theme of change. His message is Washington is broken, and the old establishment needs to be swept away in favor of new blood and a new vision. How does picking someone who has been in Washington a decade longer than Mr. McCain jive with Mr. Obama's contention that Mr. McCain has been in Washington too long to change it?"
-- Ken Blackwell --

These are just a few more examples of why Obama isn't ready to be President.

Think about these words.  They mean things, and they reveal some pretty important truths.

There's my two cents.