Wisdom from the Past

• “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.” –Greek historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.)

• “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” –physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

• “Vote: The instrument and symbol of a free man’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” –American author Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

• “I guess truth can hurt you worse in an election than about anything that can happen to you.” –American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)

Danger to our liberties . . .

• “We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.” –John Adams

The Blessing of Freedom . . .

• “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.” –Thomas Paine, The Crisis, No. 4, 1777
  

The ruin of states . . .

• “History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.” –Benjamin Franklin

The best way of doing good to the poor . . .

• ” I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it” –Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1776
  

Universal principles . . .

• “Are there not, in reality, underlying, universal principles with reference to which all issues must be resolved whether the society be simple or complex in its mechanical organization? It seems to me we could relieve ourselves of most of the bewilderment which so unsettles and distracts us by subjecting each situation to the simple test of right and wrong. Right and wrong as moral principles do not change. They are applicable and reliable determinants whether the situations with which we deal are simple or complicated. There is always a right and wrong to every question which requires our solution.” –Albert E. Bowen, Prophets, Principles and National Survival, P. 21-22
  

Set a resolution . . .

• “It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition.” –Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, 1785
  

Little spark of Fire

• “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.” –George Washington, The Rules of Civility, 1748
  

The Gipper

• “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it. Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We have an example of this. Under the Truman administration it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this. –Ronald Reagan
  

To conquer and enslave a nation . . .

• “There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” –John Adams