Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Thursday, March 13. 2008QQQThe Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long. Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms. From David Mamet's excellent essay, Why I am no longer a brain-dead Liberal, as quoted in a piece at Blue Crab Wednesday, March 12. 2008QQQ"You can tell ahead of time, every time, which side of a dispute a lefty will gravitate towards. The one antithetical to the interests of America and capitalism. Period. Sure there's always greed, self interest, etc., but egotism is the most powerful motivator and the egos of leftists are built entirely on the foundation of the assumed moral superiority of their politics. Gramsci and his followers combined Marxism and Freudianism in a toxic brew devised to hold the indoctrinated masses' self esteem hostage to their leftist politics. That's why it is so durable in spite of all the contrary empirical evidence and the heavy burden of massive cognitive dissonance.'' A comment from Maggie's Farm reader Paul, this week, re our Chavez post Tuesday, March 11. 2008QQQAny government that has the power to regulate ketchup can regulate your very life. Noted curmudgeon and frequent Maggie's Farm commenter Habu St. John du Plessis Monday, March 10. 2008QQQEveryone wants to live at the expense of the State. They forget that the State lives at the expense of everyone. Sunday, March 9. 2008QQQRecessions are the times when wealth returns to its proper owners. Anonymous QQQIf cats could talk, they wouldn't. Nan Decker (h/t, LGF) Wednesday, March 5. 2008QQQI returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, 9:11 (thanks, H. - I studied Ecclesiastes a couple of years ago. It is packed with good things.) Thursday, February 28. 2008QQQIf you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month. Theodore Roosevelt Wednesday, February 27. 2008QQQ
I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.
Theodore Roosevelt Tuesday, February 26. 2008QQQI am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man. Theodore Roosevelt Monday, February 25. 2008QQQ“Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples' money, except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer to be generous with other people's freedom and security.” William F. Buckley, Jr. Friday, February 22. 2008Washington's Birthday, with QQQsFeb. 22, 1732. Some quotes: I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an Honest Man. The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. It never hurts to review his Farewell Address delivered on September 17, 1796, at which time he voluntarily, despite much urging, decided that two terms of the Presidency was enough for one person. It concludes:
Posted by Bird Dog
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Thursday, February 21. 2008QQQOne of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.Plato (h/t, NE Republican)Ah, but you generally end up with that anyway, because most people have real jobs, and do not hunger for power over others. Sunday, February 17. 2008QQQ, and our tax code"Sarkozy is more pro-American than any of the American Democratic candidates." Stanford's Russell Berman, on John Bachelor's (excellent) radio program tonight. I also learned that Russia has a 13% flat tax. America needs more rich folks - the more, the better. It costs Americans 50 billion to do their taxes - not to pay their taxes, to do them. What a waste of our labor. Even our tax attorneys typically, say, in exasperation, "Just put in a reasonable number and don't worry about it." Nobody understands it.
Posted by The Barrister
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20:38
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Friday, February 15. 2008QQQEvil is like a shadow—it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. Shakti Gawain (h/t, Flares) Tuesday, February 12. 2008QQQ"You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six." Yogi Berra (h/t, My Wealth Builder) Lincoln's Birthday"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny." "What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?" "When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic]." "It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." "Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."
Posted by Bird Dog
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Monday, February 11. 2008Re Mitt Romney, a QQQI am a Mitt fan, but I knew he'd have trouble as yet another East Coast patrician country club Republican. As somebody said on the radio, re Mitt:
Sunday, February 10. 2008QQQReading Dean's plea for funds reminds me that I've never yet heard a Democrat say that there is hardly any difference between John McCain and Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Friday, February 8. 2008QQQ: "The common good requires that government be limited."
Robert P. George in "Law and Moral Purpose" at First Things (h/t, Evangelical Outpost)
Posted by Bird Dog
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Thursday, February 7. 2008QQQ"Any time you give power to government, it will be abused, it will be enlarged, it will be used in ways you never intended." Harry Browne on The Drudge Report 7-31-99 Wednesday, February 6. 2008QQQ“A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire. “ Thomas Merton (h/t Anchoress)
Posted by The News Junkie
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Tuesday, February 5. 2008QQQWe must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. Monday, February 4. 2008QQQ"The government is merely a servant - merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them..." Mark Twain Sunday, February 3. 2008QQQ, plus "I Like Ike"A repost from May, 2005 A reader sent this 1954 personal letter from Dwight Eisenhower to a relative, in which he discusses governance and the Supreme Court. It is a pleasure to read, and it gave me a better sense of who he was. A sample:
In Ike, an abundance of common sense and practicality became uncommon sense. Read entire letter. Image: "I Like Ike" was the slogan of 1952's Draft Eisenhower movement. The Left always viewed Ike as stupid. Some things never change.
Posted by The Chairman
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13:15
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