A Rage For Paper Money

In case you wondered about what Madison would have thought of O Duce, here it is:

A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.

Did I forget to mention that Madison is widely considered the architect of the Constitution and that Federalist #10 -- from which this is a lynch-pin passage -- is considered one of the two most important of the series? And for that matter, the Federalist is argued by some to be on par in importance with the Constitution as it is the contemporaneous set of arguments published to convince the population to vote for ratification.

The lib loons will tell you it's hard to understand what the founders meant. I don't think so. (Time for a reminder.)

Read More......

QOTD: Blank Check

My wife ran across this today in someone's signature block:

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

The likely source is here.

Read More......

Timeless Jefferson

Jefferson on Politics & Government: Public Works: "'Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.' --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:222"

He wrote this in criticism of state religion and living under it as fostered by the British. He also predicted the future with sobering accuracy.

Read More......

Can We Have The Robber Barons Back?

Well, if there really were any.

No quotarian diversion would be worth its salt without C.S. Lewis:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C.S. Lewis

He saw it coming, no?

Read More......

Freedom Has Failed? Really?

Before I drift off the quotes track:

"One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary." —Ayn Rand, 1975

These words were written more than 30 years ago, but they apply exactly to today’s financial crisis. Today’s problems are the result of a government-controlled financial and housing system that rewarded irrational behavior and punished responsible behavior. Yet they are being blamed on “the free market”—with more controls offered as the solution.

Read More......

More Mencken

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." --H. L. Mencken

I had read a bit of Mencken in my "youth" and had somehow more or less forgotten him. That'll teach me to do that again...

And here's where to find the video on "Democracy" they conveniently forgot to show in your Civics class.

Read More......

QOTD: "Practical Politics"

If you didn't take the time to watch "Cry Freedom" then at least you don't want to miss this Mencken quote from one of the featured signs:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins." -- H.L. Mencken

Read More......