Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 7077
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 7:38 pm Post subject: Who is this? | |
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These are quotes taken from the writings and speeches of a single Republican president, my favorite president in so far as you can have a favorite politician. I'm quite sure the Republicans on the forum will recognize him immediately.
This list was not put together by yours truly. It was posted on a Republican message board in another forum of which I am a member and simply brought here for your consideration as to their relevance in today's world. Do you think that the situation, in the nation and/or the world has changed so much as to render these utterances meaningless? Or are they still a pretty good lesson in political ethics? Thanks. "The government is us...You and me!" "A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards." "....There is nothing more distressing ... than the hard, scoffing spirit which treats the allegation of dishonesty in a public man as a cause for laughter. Such laughter is worse than the crackling of thorns under a pot, for it denotes not merely the vacant mind, but the heart in which high emotions have been choked before they could grow to fruition." "Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and commonsense."... "We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.""The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us." "We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal." "The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." "It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself." "Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess, it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so." "There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country." "If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful." "No man can lead a public career really worth leading, no man can act with rugged independence in serious crises, nor strike at great abuses, nor afford to make powerful and unscrupulous foes, if he is himself vulnerable in his private character." "There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother." "No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it. ""Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor." "This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country." "There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility." |
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Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 762
| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 7:46 pm Post subject: | |
| Sounds like TR to me!! | |
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 7077
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 8:08 pm Post subject: | |||
You got it, of course. Sorry I can't afford a cigar. 
Theodore Roosevelt was my inspiration for joining the GOP when I became old enough to vote more than 40 years ago, and causing both of my FDR democrat parents to nearly have strokes. Over the ensuing decades both parties have moved away from me in both directions, but I've found that if I try to stay true to these ideals, I'm OK with myself, no matter what names I get called or what treasons I get accused of. I've moved off my own centerline many times, sometimes a little left, sometimes a little right but always based on a perception that was in turned based on the principles put forth by Roosevelt. Today it's become a lot more complicated. |
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Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 1037
Location: Formerly 3333
| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 12:07 pm Post subject: | |
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Very good post Nofs....
Unfortunately, too often today I find myself voting AGAINST someone instead of voting for someone. I wish it were different. I really don't want to pick the lesser of 2 or 3 evils for political office but it seems to be reality these days. Footie |
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Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 762
| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 3:12 pm Post subject: | |
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Footie,
I agree. I have heard this statement "This election is a referendum against George Bush" more this year than in any previous election. When the choice is for the lesser of two evils...then that really is not much of a choice. I do wish that Kerry would try to define himself better, but it seems to me that he his aligning himself more and more with the Bush Administration policies in the hope that he gets elected by default. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 7077
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:46 pm Post subject: | |
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I'm just getting ready to post one of my long winded dissertations on exactly that issue as it pertains to the Repubican party. It's basically in response to a post by Foots, but I hope both of you would have some opinions as to it's possible impact, not only in the election but in the whole spectrum of where we are going.
Kerry is starting to sound like "He started it but I have to finish it so nothing will really change", isn't he? |
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