October 16, 2013

AS I SEE IT

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Ever since there has been government, people have questioned their leaders and the political process, especially when it comes to taxes. Today, more than ever, Americans are wondering why Congress can’t control its spending and why this nation is continually facing fiscal troubles.
The answer is that government and politicians love to help other people, especially when they are using someone else’s money. So what do some of the great minds of the past century think about the way government operates?
Read on and I think you’ll agree that very little has changed over time in the way we view government and taxes.
AGELESS OBSERVATIONS ON GOVERNMENT
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress . . . . But then I repeat myself.
    Mark Twain
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
    Winston Churchill
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
    George Bernard Shaw
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
    G. Gordon Liddy
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
    James Bovard
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
    Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
    P.J. O’Rourke
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
    Frederic Bastiat, French Economist
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
    Ronald Reagan
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!
    P.J. O’Rourke
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
    Voltair
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you!
    Pericles (430 B.C.)
No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
    Mark Twain
Talk is cheap . . . except when Congress does it.
    Unknown
The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
    Ronald Reagan
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
    Winston Churchill
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
    Mark Twain
There is no distinctly Native American criminal class . . . save Congress.
    Mark Twain
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
    Edward Langley, Artist  
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
    Thomas Jefferson

WATFORD CITY WEATHER