GraniteGrok

As we blog about politics, one of the defining principles that we have here at the 'Grok is Liberty - as a people, in current society, as individuals.  Too often, we blithely go about our day and are unobservant of the swirls of politics around us.  These swirls, sometimes begun by people who do wish to seize power and some by people that are simply "well intentioned" but are not familiar with the Law of Unintended Consequences, pass laws and regulations that restrict such Liberties as we now have (or had).

I ran across the below over at The Radio Patriot - a collection of some of Thomas Jefferson's Notable Quotes.  Consider a few of them while contemplating current events and see if our elected officials are paying attention to them (or justifing their positions).

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

And to think, as the post reminds me, he was but 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence...

Posted by Skip at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

"The thing that sets the American Christian apart from all other people in the world is that he will die on his feet rather before he will live on his knees."

-George Washington.

It is an easy thing for a husband to step in front of his wife and children in times of extreme danger - that is easily recognized in that split second of it happening.  But what about the incrementally slow creep that can go unseen and unrecognized?

Are we still the same people, the same Americans, that will live up to that credo as our forefathers did?  Are we willing to value freedom over servitude?  The answer from those that are serving, and many that have served, the answer is an unqualified "YES!"; the same from many more who have not doffed the uniform of our military forces as well.

Sadly, many others are quietly saying "no", not understanding that servitude is not merely an aquiescence to a foreign power - it can be a willingness to submit to anything that incrementaly requires an incremental abdication of our responsibilities and of our liberties as idealized by the writers of our founding documents.  I am afraid that many in our society have truly forgotten what real freedom is - the willingness to be alone, to stand alone, to rely on oneself.  Instead, as government has grown ever larger during the last few decades, the enemies of this philosophy, this singularly American expression of freedom, have not just been those far from our shores but also those from within.  That wispy cotton cocoon of the ever enlargening and enveloping government can be one such entity as it portends a slow yielding of one's spirit of self-resolve and independence to the security "Mommy" of the bureaucracy.  The failure is in not recognizing that this siren song, that allure of "don't worry, we'll take care of you and your family" is much more costly than any financial consideration meted out in gold.  What Faustian compact is it to be protected from all of life's risk and viccitudes and to have lost that most precious of gifts from our Founding Fathers - individual liberty for an over-reliance on government to provide for every need.

The video that quotes George Washington above can be seen here.  It is about 11 minutes long.

The Star Spangled Banner, like you've never heard it

Posted by Skip at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is no doubt that I am a limited government kind of guy; too often, people want government to do for them before doing for themselves.  And there are a lot of people out there that are too often too quick to say "hey, go down to the gummint office, they'll help ya".  So often, I throw my hands up in disgust at the general attitude of "why bother - government will take care of it!".  And then I quote President John Kennedy:

"...ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country..."

Fine words; good words, as they seem to say to me "government is not a Nanny".  Or so I thought.

I've made a habit of going over to Greg Mankiw's place fairly often - I'm thinking that I need to revise my thinking on the above quote and think about this one by Milton Friedman's book Capitalism and Freedom instead (emphasis mine):

In a much quoted passage in his inaugural address, President Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country." It is a striking sign of the temper of our times that the controversy about this passage centered on its origin and not on its content. Neither half of the statement expresses a relation between the citizen and his government that is worthy of the ideals of free men in a free society. The paternalistic "what your country can do for you" implies that government is the patron, the citizen the ward, a view that is at odds with the free man's belief in his own responsibility for his own destiny. The organismic, "what you can do for your country" implies that government is the master or the deity, the citizen, the servant or the votary. To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them. He is proud of a common heritage and loyal to common traditions. But he regards government as a means, an instrumentality, neither a grantor of favors and gifts, nor a master or god to be blindly worshipped and served. He recognizes no national goal except as it is the consensus of the goals that the citizens severally serve. He recognizes no national purpose except as it is the consensus of the purposes for which the citizens severally strive.

The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country. He will ask rather "What can I and my compatriots do through government" to help us discharge our individual responsibilities, to achieve our several goals and purposes, and above all, to protect our freedom? And he will accompany this question with another: How can we keep the government we create from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect?

Posted by Skip at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This quote from Michelle Obama creeps me out. She's talking about a guy that, when you really think about it, has never done ANYTHING in life, save run his mouth and point fingers...

"There's this beautiful thing about my husband," she said. "He thinks he can really do everything, he does, with his own power and will."

And don't forget the big rally in Grant Park. Here's a sneak preview of what you can expect:

As you can see, no expense will be spared...

[And next comes the civilian defense corps. And then we'll get Obama truths. For those that can't get with the program, well... you KNOW what follows...]

Posted by Doug at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As reported:

"The change we need won’t come from government alone," Obama said to a crowd of an estimated 80,000. "It will come from each of us doing our part in our own lives, in our own communities. It will come from each of us looking after ourselves and our families but also looking after each other. You know I – it’s been awhile now – we’ve made a virtue out of selfishness, there’s no virtue in that. We made a virtue of irresponsibility and we need to usher in a new spirit of service and sacrifice and responsibly."

- Barack H. Obama

Well, I have said that he should be leading from the front, and in showing us a demonstration of making a "virtue out of selfishness", he has succeeded - first with his charitable giving, helping his brother, and helping his aunt. 

So much for helping out "the least of us" and his family, eh?  And he's got the chutzpah to tell us to do what he won't do?  Just another example of the job Americans won't do, I guess....

Notable for its hypocrisy!

Posted by Skip at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Saw the reference over at BlackFive:

I believe a self-righteous liberal with a cause is more dangerous than a Hell's Angel with an attitude.

-Chuck

Having met both, I would agree!

Read the rest of his Declaration ("I'm Your Worst Nightmare.  I am a BAD Republican") - it is a stitch!

Posted by Skip at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thoughts for Tuesday:

"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

Posted by Skip at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

OK, a bit of a different one here for a Notable Quote (H/T: NRO) - how could a refuse a Robert Heinlein quote when I get smacked in the face with it?

First, that uber-Liberal congressman Barney Frank (you know, one of the Dems that forced Fannie and Freddie and whose ex-lover was partially responsible for Fannie's sub-prime products)?

This morning's WSJ editorial on "Obamanomics" starts with this quote from Barney Frank (and as you read it, note how confident the Left is:  One of the main culprits of the credit crisis, saying this sort of stuff already, just before we vote and before they are even fully in power):

I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money.

And then the truth of the matter from the 'Grok's favorite science fiction author, Robert Heinlein:

It reminded me of this passage a reader sent me a few days ago, from the late, great science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein's To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987):

The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a "warm body" democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction.... [O]nce a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader — the barbarians enter Rome.

Yes folks, very similar to this.

Posted by Skip at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just found this over at ARRA News Service where they had a post on Dr. Walter E. Williams (I just LOVE listening to this guy!):

Americans demand that Congress spend trillions of dollars on farm subsidies, business bailouts, education subsidies, Social Security, Medicare and prescription drugs and other elements of a welfare state. The problem is that Congress produces nothing. Whatever Congress wishes to give, it has to first take other people's money. Thus, at the root of the welfare state is the immorality of intimidation, threats and coercion backed up with the threat of violence by the agents of the U.S. Congress. In order for Congress to do what some Americans deem as good, it must first do evil. It must do that which if done privately would mean a jail sentence; namely, take the property of one American to give to another. . . .

-Dr. Walter E. Williams, Ph.D

Posted by Skip at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

"We are not led to undo the work of creation or to rectify the Fall. The duty of the Christian is not to leave the world a better place. His duty is to leave this world a better man."

- Monsignor Gilbey

No matter how hard we try, nor how compelling the argument for, we cannot create Heaven here on Earth.  Because of the Fall, we are morally corrupt.  While many of us strive to be better, there are those whose corruptness morphs into absolute evil, thus making Heaven on Earth impossible.

God is interested in us helping others, yes.  He is more interested, however, in our individual heart and soul.  With the sacrifice of Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, yes, I can leave this ball of mud a better person. 

As my Pastor (Pastor Jeff Owen) says,

"I'm not yet the person that God wants me to be, but I'm a long ways from the person I used to be."

Amen to both.

Posted by Skip at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just got this from a 'Grok reader

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward." 

-Amelia Earhart

Again, showing up and stick-to-it-iveness are often the keys for success.  Remember, you CAN choose to do something (or choose to lay on the couch!).

(H/T: Eleanor)

Posted by Skip at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No, I don't always just pull out a book and find these gems; sometimes people send them over (much appreciated!) and sometimes I just stumble upon them.  Like this one from Powerline):

I Once Read A Book...

...by Robert Heinlein. It was appallingly bad [Note: I liked it and have read it a number of times  -Skip]. I don't remember anything about it, actually, except that people were going around "groking" things. But this dialogue between Glenn Reynolds and his readers on the subject of energy, electrical, nuclear and otherwise, is characteristically intelligent.

The only connection between these observations is that Glenn offers this quote from Heinlein, which I like. Glenn introduces it:

[I]ntelligent power management is key. And as for vilifying and taxing success -- that's what government is for. Otherwise the rest of the citizenry might develop self esteem problems. This was all addressed by Robert Heinlein, natch:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

          This is known as "bad luck."

Must have been from a different book.

Of course I had to post a reference to "Grok" - just look at the banner!

It also brings up a good point that I often am saying nowadays given the quantity of slipshod pronouncements from Liberals, from the Left, and politicians of most stripes that the world is going down the toilet.

Actually, compared to the vast majority of human history, we have it made in the shade, folks!  Life is better now than ever before.  Sure, there is disease, accidents, bad people, bad weather, bad happenings, and poverty.  The amazing thing is not that some are still living subsistence style lives as if we were in the Stone Age, Iron Age, or Bronze Age (you get the idea), but that we are not!

Judeo-Christian theology changed the hearts and minds of the West and magnified the individual's worth in relationship to his or her God, that God cares about each and every one of us.  Capitalism built upon that philosophy by recognizing that each of us has our own self interest at heart, but by providing goods and services that are wanted by others, the self effort to produce that will result in betterment for the person doing the inventing and producing of that good.  Thus, not only does the producer benefit, but all those around him benefit too!

I just wish the Libs would understand and accept these two simple truths and take them more to heart:

• You can legislate morality, but the more you legislate it, the less moral people become.  Which requires more laws (a negative feedback cycle here, folks!).
  
• Hamstring the producers and those in society dependent on them (I'm not talking family here) become poorer both now and in the future. 

Posted by Skip at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

(H/T: Eric)

Since Mr. Heinlein was one of my favorite authors growing up, and his "word" (grok) is part of our name, it is appropriate to have one of his quotes grace our site (especially as we are under siege as a society from those that do not understand what he is saying):

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."

– Robert Heinlein

Posted by Skip at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

From Ronaldus Maximus (1964 – A Time for Choosing):

Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last.

-Ronald Reagan

44 years ago today; these words have turned out to be prescient, haven't they?  They show that human nature does not change - "something for nothing" is neither free or cheap.  It fosters a mentality that it is socially acceptable, even looked for, to live and prosper from the work of others.  It doesn't matter if the public welfare is directed to an individual or a community; when it comes as a "natural state of doing basis" vs "help in a time of need", no good can come from it.

And of course, this election will be the greatest decision point by this country on this issue.  Just remember - right now, services and goods are rationed by price but at least moderated by free markets (and that market would be cheaper at a higher level of quality if government would stop distorting it). 

Instead, if we go down the alluring path of socialized medicine, services and goods will continue to be rationed by price but add to that the bureaucracy similar to that of your DMV....

Posted by Skip at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"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."

---Lord Thomas MacCauley

(H/T: Doug Welch, proprietor of Stix Blog ) 

Posted by Skip at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

           - Plato

(H/T: Karen) 

You know, like this lady (I'll jog your memory - the SEIU sponsored Purple People? that appeared at almost all the NH Prez Primary events? Like this one that wants you all to pay for their healthcare?).

Make no doubt about it, one of the political objectives of the SEIU is to have us all pay for Universal Healthcare.

Posted by Skip at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A taxpayer voting for Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.

Posted by Doug at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It is our attitude toward free thought and free expression that will determine our fate. There must be no limit on the range of temperate discussion, no limits on thought. No subject must be taboo. No censor must preside at our assemblies.

– William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1952

Posted by Skip at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A FEW WISE WORDS During this political season:

*You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

*You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

* You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

* You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

* You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

* You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and
   independence.

* You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should
   do for themselves.

- Abraham Lincoln

I look upon these truths as being self-evident.  Yet, when I look around the political landscape, under the guise of "helping our fellow man", I see the Liberals violating each and every one of these.  By taxing one to give to the other, the above are broken.  By having government supplying all one's basic needs ad infinitum, the above are broken.  By legislating and regulating "for our own good", the above are broken.

Government's aim should be to ensure independance and not a sense of beholdeness back to government.   

(H/T: Bill Smith at ARRA) 

Posted by Skip at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong"

- Thomas Sowell

(H/T: John) 

And I would have to agree.  Many political decisions are made to satisfy the immediate and urgent problem - and it may not be important.  Further, the political class is wont to show themselves to be relevant and to show that they care to the public at large - whether the decision is a good one or a bad one.  Too often, the ramifications of a decision are not contempleted or that the "next steps" are not fully fleshed out, thus bringing in the Law of Unintended Consequences into play.

Such as we see now with the Congressional mandate on the domestic manufacture of huge amounts of ethanol.  Who pays the price of their wrong decision?

• The poor of the world, as food prices go up as food stock is shuffed over to energy stock.
• The environment suffers, as ethanol (and other biofuels) are now being shown to be net negatives.
• And of course, as always, the American taxpayer.

Rather than the politicians that came up with this looney tune idea - all in the attempt to save the planet and financially starve the holders of usable oil reserves (after all, we cannot be allowed to use our own, can we?). 

Posted by Skip at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Skip at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Heh!  Dilbertisms!

Methinks productivity is going to is going to experience a sharp downward trend for a while....

"As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks."  (This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond WA )   

Judgement call?  A a self imposed self-importance disease?

"This project is so important we can't let things that are more important interfere with it."  (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)

In short - don't make the rest of us look stooopid... 

"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months.  Now go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them."  (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)

"I" in "teamwork"?

Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say." (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)

A company that was dedicated to communications....notice the use of the word "was".... 

"We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees."   (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

Posted by Skip at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Senator Obama (GG file photo)

If there was ever any doubt as to the "two Americas" as viewed by Barack Obama and his friends like Pastor Wright and the rest of us typical Americans, this quote puts it to rest. As reported in Ben Smith's Blog at the Politico comes this gem from a speech given at a fundraiser in San Francisco:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them...And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Guns and religion "as a way to express their frustration?" This guy frightens me. This is an astonishingly dim view of what would seem to most people to be ordinary Americans.

Yikes!

Posted by Doug at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Skip at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Given this Notable Quote, another bon mot provided by a reader!

Here's another of his thoughts to ponder as well:

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."

Sounds like we hit that day a LONG time ago.

(H/T: Randy)
 

Posted by Skip at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"The dignity of man is not shattered in a single blow, but slowly softened, bent, and eventually neutered. Men are seldom forced to act, but are constantly restrained from acting. Such power does not destroy outright, but prevents genuine existence. It does not tyrannize immediately, but it dampens, weakens, and ultimately suffocates, until the entire population is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid, uninspired animals, of which the government is shepherd."

                    - Alexis de Tocqueville

(H/T: John) 

Posted by Skip at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I was reading the story in the Union Leader about the wanted man arrested after his picture appeared on the front page of Tuesday's paper, which I found rather comical in its own right:

CONCORD – Vern Potter's whereabouts had been unknown since Concord police issued an arrest warrant for him in January.

Then a police lieutenant happened to spot a Page 1 photo of Potter in yesterday's New Hampshire Union Leader, shoveling snow off the roof of Andover Elementary School. The photo accompanied a story with the headline, "Up on the roof; shoveling reaches new levels."

Police learned that the 31-year-old Potter, who works for a roofing company, was at the school again yesterday and arranged to arrest him on a Class A felony insurance fraud charge.

Heh! Then I read the comment left by John of Merrimack:

It's too bad for this guy he isn't an illegal immigrant. Then the cops would have just looked the other way.

Sad, but true...

Posted by Doug at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management." 

-Thomas Jefferson

In other words, one of the foundational truths of our democracy is that of private property rights and the right of the owner to possess, use and dispose of that property without coercion from government.

Contrast that with this:

• "We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
  
• "We can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people." 
  
• "What I want to do is take those profits and apply them to alternative energy."
  

Hillary, you are no Thomas Jefferson.... 

Posted by Skip at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The quotation marks in the title are used most advisedly. The words themselves are among the most successful deceptions ever conceived. Ask a variety of people to define what "social justice" means, specifically, and you will get as many answers as people queried. Ask the same person at different times and you will get different responses. All "definitions" of social justice boil down to any of the following:

Continue reading "Not a dime's worth of difference? I don't think so. It's the socialism, stupid!" »

Posted by Doug at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I certainly agree with this statement, as all around us, we see our politicians and society increasingly trying to protect us from ourselves and from the statement "Decisions and actions have consequences".

If you want freedom, you have to assume personal responsibility for yourself.  If you make bad decisions, it's your own fault.

- Dr. Ron Paul, 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate 

No, this is NOT an endorsement of Ron Paul!  That said, I do agree with some of what he says (and just plain shake my head slowly at the rest).  And this is one of those times.

(H/T: Tom) 

Posted by Skip at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)