Quote-a-palooza
“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” —Patrick Henry
“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” —John 3:20-21
“[W]hen it comes to Congress, marriage and parenthood define what’s different about Democratic and Republican districts even more clearly than race, income, education or geography. Republican House members overwhelmingly come from districts that have high percentages of married people and lots of children. Democrats’ districts, however, are stocked with people who have never married and have few children. The demographic data is illuminating: Republicans control 49 of the 50 districts with the highest rates of married people while Democrats represent all 50 districts that have the highest rates of adults who have never married; Democrats represent 30 districts in which fewer than half of children live with married parents. Republicans represent none; Republican Congress members represent 39.2 million children, about 7 million more than Democrats, an average of 7,000 more children per district. Politicians and pundits who want to really understand political differences in the U.S. should take a hard look at this ‘marriage and fertility gap’.” —Tony Perkins
“The left sees Fox as a symptom and promoter of anarchy. The old unity, the old essential unity one used to experience when one turned on the TV in 1950 or 1980, has been fractured, broken up. We are becoming balkanized. Fox, blogs, talk radio, the Internet, citizen reporters—it’s all producing cacophony, and heralds a future of No Compromise... It is an odd thing about modern liberals that they’re made anxious by the unsanctioned. A conservative is more likely to see what’s happening as freedom... The new media did not divide us. The new media gave voice to our divisions. The result: more points of view, more subjects discussed, more data presented. This, in a great republic, a great democracy, a leader of the world in a dangerous time, is not bad but good. But nothing comes free. All big changes have unexpected benefits and unanticipated drawbacks... TV is still great, in some ways better than ever. Freedom works. And yet... it wasn’t all gain... When liberals miss something in the media, that’s what they should be missing. Not a unity that never existed but standards that were high. When conservatives say there’s nothing to miss, they’re wrong. We lost some bias, but we lost some standards, too.” —Peggy Noonan
“The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain communism, it will transcend communism. We will not bother to denounce it. We’ll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.” —Ronald Reagan
“I keep reading that big business wants government off its back. But that’s a myth. Here’s the truth: ‘[B]ig business and big government prosper from the perception that they are rivals instead of partners (in plunder). The history of big business is one of cooperation with big government.’ That’s Timothy Carney writing in a recent Cato Policy Report... [G]overnment and business are not antagonists but allies. They’ve always been allies. Politicians like it that way because they get power and prestige, and businessmen like it because they get protection from competition... Canal and railroad companies loved the big government contracts. Corruption was rampant, and work was often shoddy, but the contracts paid handsomely. The politicians prospered, too. Only taxpayers and consumers lost out... [Government] provides big business something it can’t have in the free market: the power to restrict competition by force. Anyone worried about the power of big business should remember real coercion comes only from government. The voluntary, competitive marketplace is better for us all.” —John Stossel
“Since 2002, federal spending has increased by 47%, earmarking abuse is rampant, and the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit has created $18.2 trillion in new unfunded liabilities on future taxpayers. And while GDP growth has been good and unemployment remains low, there are a number of American households who have seen their real income remain flat for the past five years. These families feel the brunt of the softening housing market, higher energy prices and rising health-care costs. They feel less secure about their retirement, knowing that they can no longer depend on empty government promises... The only solution to collapsing pension and health-insurance programs consistent with individual dignity and real financial security is a system based on personal retirement accounts, but it looks unlikely that voters will hear much about real solutions to the retirement security crisis this fall. The same is true on the other important fiscal and economic issues facing the nation. All candidates for public office should be debating the need for new spending discipline to balance the federal budget, reforms to simplify the Byzantine tax code and boost economic savings and investment, and regulatory changes that would unleash new innovation. Instead, we have been treated to political theater. There is still some time left in this Congress, and Republicans would benefit by completing unfinished legislative work... Win or lose, if Republicans hope to maintain the political support of a voting majority in the future, they will need to rediscover their fiscally conservative roots, and govern accordingly.” —former House majority leader Dick Armey