It appears to me that 42 of the first 43 Presidents are giving advice to the 44th and the Congress. Are they listening?
Do any of these apply today, Election Day 2010? You choose, I have.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
George Washington: None: General, Continental Army; Lieutenant General, US Army (Prisoner of War, 8 times received the Thanks of Congress)**
"Fear is the foundation of most governments."
John Adams: Federalist
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government."
Thomas Jefferson: Democratic-Republican: Colonel, Virginia Militia
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
James Madison: Democratic-Republican: Colonel, Virginia Militia
"It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty."
James Monroe: Democratic-Republican: Major, Continental Army*
"Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."
John Quincy Adams: Democratic-Republican; National Republican
Son of President John Adams
"I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office."
Andrew Jackson: Democratic: Major General, US Army (Prisoner of War, Congressional Gold Medal, Thanks of Congress)***
"The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity."
Martin Van Buren: Democratic
"The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed."
William Henry Harrison: Whig: Major General, US Army (Congressional Gold Medal, Thanks of Congress)**
"I can never consent to being dictated to."
John Tyler: Whig, None: Captain, US Army
Delegate, Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
Member of Congress, Confederate States of America (Elected but died before being sworn in)
"There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S."
James K. Polk: Democratic: Colonel, Tennessee Militia
(Never said anything appropriate?)
Zachary Taylor: Whig: Major General, US Army (Congressional Gold Medal, Thanks of Congress)****
Cousin of President James Madison
"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress."
Millard Fillmore: Whig: Major, New York Militia
"The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded."
Franklin Pierce: Democratic: Brigadier General, US Volunteers (Wounded in Action)*
"The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men."
James Buchanan Democratic: Private, Pennsylvania Militia
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln: Republican; National Union: Captain, Illinois Militia
"Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies to all subjects."
Andrew Johnson: Democratic: National Union: None: Brigadier General, US Volunteers
"It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training."
Ulysses S. Grant: Republican: General, US Army (Twice Breveted for Bravery, Congressional Gold Medal, Thanks of Congress)**
"Let every man, every corporation, and especially let every village, town, and city, every county and State, get out of debt and keep out of debt. It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times."
Rutherford B. Hayes: Republican: Major General, US Volunteers (5 times wounded in action and had 4 horses shot out from under him)*
"The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people."
James A. Garfield: Republican: Major General, US Volunteers*
"The extravagant expenditure of public money is an evil not to be measured by the value of that money to the people who are taxed for it."
Chester A. Arthur: Republican: Brigadier General, New York Militia
"The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government, Government should not support the people."
Grover Cleveland: Democratic
"The bud of victory is always in the truth."
Benjamin Harrison: Republican: Brigadier General, US Volunteers*
Grandson of President W.H. Harrison
"Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made."
Grover Cleveland: Democratic
"The free man cannot be long an ignorant man."
William McKinley: Republican: Captain, 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry*
"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life."
Theodore Roosevelt: Republican: Colonel, US Volunteers (Medal of Honor)*
"We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement."
William Howard Taft: Republican
"Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it."
Woodrow Wilson: Democratic
"I don't know much about Americanism, but it's a damn good word with which to carry an election."
Warren G. Harding: Republican
"The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes."
Calvin Coolidge: Republican
"Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt."
Herbert Hoover: Republican
"The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government."
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Democratic
Cousin of President T. Roosevelt
"A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader."
Harry S. Truman: Democratic: Colonel, US Army Reserve*
"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom."
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Republican: General of the Army, US Army (5 Distinguished Service Medals, Legion of Merit)
"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
John F. Kennedy: Democratic: Lieutenant, US Navy (Navy and Marine Corps Medal; Purple Heart)*
"There are plenty of recommendations on how to get out of trouble cheaply and fast. Most of them come down to this: Deny your responsibility."
Lyndon B. Johnson: Democratic: Commander, US Navy Reserve (Silver Star)*
"Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist."
Richard M. Nixon: Republican: Commander, US Navy Reserve (Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 2 Battle Stars)*
:A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.:
Gerald R. Ford: Republican: Lieutenant Commander, US Navy Reserve (Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 8 Battle Stars, Philippine Liberation Medal with 2 Battle Stars)*
"Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom."
Jimmy Carter: Democratic: Lieutenant, US Navy
"Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty."
Ronald Reagan: Republican: Captain, US Army Reserve
"We don't want an America that is closed to the world. What we want is a world that is open to America."
George H. W. Bush: Republican: Lieutenant, US Navy Reserve (Distinguished Flying Cross, 3 Air Medals)*
"Where are the jobs going to come from? Small business, manufacturing and clean energy. Where's the money to finance them? The banks and the corporations in America today have lots of money that they can invest right now."
William J. Clinton: Democratic
"Government does not create wealth. The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States."
George W. Bush: Republican: First Lieutenant, Texas Air National Guard
Son of President G.H.W. Bush
OK, I was born in Kenya. Get off my back.
Barack Obama: Democratic
* Designates the number of wars in which the individual was actually in combat.
God Bless the Tea Party and the USA
Gunner Sends
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