Tuesday, November 4, 2008

QOTD

Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

-- Ronald Wilson Reagan

11 comments:

  1. God, they'll be insufferable at work tomorrow...
    I still like "People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
    ETA: I just realized that tomorrow is November 5th, which makes mine above EXTRA appropriate.

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  2. No offense intended, but if McCain had won, the insufferability would still be there, just with the other set of folks. I think we can give the democrats a shot now...the republicans have had 8 years, lets see if the dems can do any better. If not, then you can vote them out. But you must remember, it's this kind of partisanship that has gotten us in this mess in the first place.

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  3. I agree with you Steve that it's time to let them have their shot. It's time for the GOP to regroup and rethink. It's time for a new leader to emerge of the style of Newt Gingrich in 1994 to lead the Republicans back to the roots of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and to come up with new solutions to old problems.

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  4. Well, there might have been *some* insufferability, but a lot more of moping, I suspect that most of the ones I know are liberals (and I *know* several of them are RAVING liberals) :p
    (And personally speaking, I'm only insufferable when my sports teams win the championship, or the Cubs manage to throw it all away again - politics just isn't worth it ;D)

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  5. I dunno about *Newt*, but yeah. God, I wish Jim Talent was still in office at some level, building more national cred, and could make a decent run down the line. Young, fairly dynamic... *sighs*

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  6. Speaking of the NL Central champions... Thankfully spring training is only 3 months away. Something to look forward to. Oh and I guess that wedding thing, but it's 8 months out. :-)

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  7. Answer me this, what makes being a liberal a bad thing? First of all, this country was founded by liberals whom, if they had not won their battles, would have been hanged as traitors to the crown. Conservatives just tend to take things slower and hope that things work out on their own (historically speaking). If you can give me a reason how liberal attitudes have directly effected you and your life, I may be more inclined to listen, but the message that I'm getting from you is that you don't like liberals for the simple fact that they may have different ideas than you do on how to do things. Well, that's what the good ol' USofA is all about...the ability to think for yourself without having others tell you what you can and can't do. I trust you will give me a good response as I know you are an intelligent person with good ideas and self respect, and I for one can respect that.

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  8. Liberals? Did I *ever* say being a liberal was a bad thing? (Okay, besides, when I grumble about the "bloody liberals" on my friends list who are all FLAMING liberal journalism school majors... but in most cases, that's not a serious grumble. Anyway.)
    DEMOCRATS, on the other hand... (and for that matter, a pretty fair number of REPUBLICANS). All I'm going to say is, I disagree with their politics. Also means that yes, I happen to disagree with the politics of a fair number of liberals. (Then I again, I disagree with the politics and often the beliefs of those on BOTH far extreme ends of the political spectrum.)
    Also, I never said what people can or can't think. Doesn't mean I can't disagree with what they think, either. I like quite a few liberal people, I just don't happen to agree with their politics.

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  9. No, neither you or Ben have said that liberals are bad. But you both imply it very strongly in the language that you use. Ben at least appears to listen to the other side. All I am asking is that you put yourself into the shoes of a person with liberal ideas who may or may not be "raving" and see if you would like the names you have been calling yourself or the tone to which people talk to you. It's called civility in society. I also understand that this is a personal blog...but the simple nature of the blog means that you are placing these ideas for other people to read so you have a responsibility to be considerate of others feelings. If you wish to be inconsiderate, I recommend getting a notebook and writing in that. I am neither liberal nor conservative. I have the ability to choose the best aspects of both sides, but I take offense when people of either side attack the issues of the opposite side without taking into consideration the tone of their attack. It is an old but accurate saying that you get more flies with honey than with vinegar. If you would really like to persuade someone to your viewpoint, you may want to consider explaining it in a dignified and respectful manner and someone like me will be more willing to listen to you.
    Ben, I sincerely apologizing for invading your blog board. I promise that I will not respond in this thread again.

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  10. Steve's message goes both ways. The name calling in recent years from the left of center towards conservatives has been equally unsettling. Especially the far far far left blogs that have people posting about how it would be good if someone killed President Bush or the ad hominem attacks against any one that has a right of center view point.
    Locally in central Illinois we have had one of the most politically counter cultural races for the US House in many years. The seat is currently held by a long time incumbent Republican, but he announced his retirement last year. The race ended up between a Democrat that was popular in the area as a news anchor for 30 years and a young Illinois house member that has been a rising star in the local GOP. The really interesting thing is that Representative Shock (R) ran a completely positive campaign even when his opponent went negative. He won an overwhelming 20% victory. To me that shows that it is still possible to be civil in politics.
    Oh and Steve, no worries about invading my blog... this is the most hits its had in years. :-)

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  11. Ironically my original post wasn't intended as a commentary on the election results but just a commentary on the sorry state of politics and government in the US, especially locally in Illinois where we're on the verge of having our second straight governor indicted on corruption charges.
    I'm very much a proponent of less government in people's lives. There are a few things that governments have traditionally been good at providing like infrastructure and schools (to an extent). Unfortunately I can think of a lot more things that the Government has not had a good track record with.

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