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I know this has been posted before, but I think it is worth posting again. It would also be a good idea to send it to our congresscritters. I'd like to see this read right after the prayer at the opening of every meeting of Congress.
1 posted on 07/02/2003 5:12:30 PM PDT by SUSSA
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To: SUSSA
I haven't seen it before. Brilliant post. It clearly delineates the difference between true charity and government giveaways and is more pertinent now than ever. We have reached the point where I'm not sure we have any honest men left. This suggests to me that we may have reached the point where out government no longer works because what we have is multiple special interest groups trying to procure funds from the government and the government officials pandering to them for their votes.
2 posted on 07/02/2003 5:26:00 PM PDT by johniegrad
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To: upier
ping!

ML/NJ

3 posted on 07/02/2003 5:26:20 PM PDT by ml/nj
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To: SUSSA
Davy Crocket was quite the speaker. His introductory speech in Congress was a tall tale about how he won election by trickery--essentially a lesson in how sceptical we-the-people need to be . . .
4 posted on 07/02/2003 5:28:54 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: SUSSA
On May 23, 1857, in a letter to an American friend, Lord Thomas MacCauley wrote: "A democracy cannot survive as a permanent form of government. It can last only until its citizens discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority (who vote) will vote for those candidates promising the greatest benefits from the public purse, with the result that a democracy will always collapse from loose fiscal policies, always followed by a dictatorship."

This is the trap that destroys democracies, and republics. It is worse than faction.

5 posted on 07/02/2003 5:33:45 PM PDT by LibKill (MOAB, the greatest advance in Foreign Relations since the cat-o'-nine-tails!)
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To: SUSSA
Somewhere in the past - I was aware of this - thanks for the post and reminder. So true!
8 posted on 07/02/2003 5:55:12 PM PDT by RAY
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To: SUSSA
I hadn't seen it either.

I forwarded it to my Congressman with this preface:

Congressman Frelinghuysen:

(And I would never call you Rodney. How gauche!)

We have met. And you have separately met my daughter as a high-schooler a number of years ago.. You might remember a girl who asked you about Vincent Foster. You didn't answer her, apparently because either you are a fool or you just think it's best for you and your family to abide murder and go along to get along.

I'm not writing today about Vincent Foster. But I just want to be up front about my contempt for you and all of your Republican colleagues who like to count upon my vote.

Today I am writing with a quote from the Congressional Record that someone forwarded to me. It would be a miracle if you were actually present for this, and probably as much of a miracle if these words were actually spoken. Our whole government is such a fraud that if I had anything to do with it I would probably commit suicide.

Still I hope you take the time to see what you missed and read what follows.

Please do not respond with one of those stupid automated "Thank you's." It will only deepen my contempt.

ML/NJ
10 posted on 07/02/2003 6:01:16 PM PDT by ml/nj
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To: SUSSA
This is an all time great. It's worth the second post.
17 posted on 07/02/2003 7:49:28 PM PDT by GOPJ
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To: SUSSA
Crockett was referring to congressional threats to the integrity of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution.

The General Welfare Clause has been distorted to give Congress authority to spend our money any which way it pleases. In fact, the limitations on federal spending are clearly enumerated in Section 8.

I once did a rough estimate of congressional misappropriations on a budget of 1.7 trillion. Even a generous interpretation of Section 8 (from the point of view of spendaholics) shows at least $1 trillion to have been illegally appropriated.

When people pull that in the private sector, they go to prison. When members of Congress do the same thing, they're acclaimed for their compassion and re-elected.

The problem isn't just with Congress, though. It's primarily with a public largely unfamiliar with the Constitution and accustomed to receiving the redistributed earnings of their countrymen. It's a marriage of ignorance and avarice.
18 posted on 07/02/2003 9:16:27 PM PDT by MadeInOhio
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To: SUSSA
bump
19 posted on 07/03/2003 8:15:19 AM PDT by GOPJ
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To: SUSSA
Great Story - goes to my #3.

What is wrong in America:

1.) Education in this country is appalling. The Founding Fathers and propionates of ‘the republic’ stressed the importance of an educated electorate. Children are not taught to learn or to think, they are taught to be a cog, to listen and perform to an acceptable standard. Once adults it ‘telling’ continues with politicians and the media. When a country has no guidance though logic or enlightenment from history it will weaken and strain. In the chaos we will turn more and more to direct democracy and that will fracture this nation, just as it has done to societies in the past. That balkanization of the nation will happen unless we can teach children to learn, until we provide facts and lessons outside the popular culture and outside the PC fade of the decade.

2.) The erosion of local politics and State Rights has reduced the more direct and radical changes that evolve a society and/or teach it lessons while keeping unchecked nationwide effects limited. Local and State governments give the most direct access to the people and gives them the most immediate response to good and bad decisions. With a heavily centralize government the people can always blame the politicians in D.C. We need a Federal Government, but not for everything and not for strict standardization.

3.) Government by emotions. If you feel bad for your neighbor, help him, but do not setup another government program to do it for you. If we all had to deal with the social issues of the day without the luxury of passing the buck to a tax funded program we all might be more interested in fixing the problem. How much more would you give to charity if you paid 10% less in taxes, 20%? Every dollar given to charity is better spent than when given to a government program and it instills individual responsibility for the society as a whole.

4.) We must reinstate ‘Right’ & ‘Wrong’- Absolutes. There is a right and a wrong and while sometimes it is complicated, it is always necessary. Without any absolutes how can a nation avoid the extreme pendulum swings so common in other fallen societies? Conservatism is about finding true north and avoiding deviation from the course. Things do change and new obstacles do arise, but conservatives do not over react, do not deviate for deviations sake. This does not mean we need some extreme legislation of morality, but let us not forget that the very idea of a Constitutional Republic is finding some morally correct limits to both government and society and that those absolutes exist outside government and society. We claim the moral right to defend ourselves and to be defended. We found the moral position that killing for greed is wrong and should be punished. No matter where you found that morality it is not universal accepted and these Absolutes must be protected.

20 posted on 09/29/2003 9:05:11 PM PDT by CyberCowboy777 (I talk of Freedom, You talk of the flag. I talk of Revolution, You much rather brag.)
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