This is the Pledge to America I want to hear, and to see kept.
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom.
My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution … or have failed their purpose … or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.
I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is ‘needed’ before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.
And if I should be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ ‘interests,’ I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty, and in that cause I am doing the very best I can.
Awww… The apeal of Barry Goldwater is strong, but I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. I want to be mindful of the size and power of government, but I also like to have a government prepared to respond to the needs of the society. Such as the recent economic crisis. I know TARP and the Stimulus are very unpopular around these parts, but I like still having an economy.
“but I like still having an economy.”
So without sinking billions of dollars into banks who just sat on it, our entire structure of trade and wealth would have evaporated without leaving any trace? Coooooooolllll.
In today’s GOP, the party of Palin and O’Donnell and Fox News, Goldwater is a RINO. So are Nixon and Eisenhower.
I like this one, further down on the same link:
“The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.”
I’ve advocated for a number of years that ALL federal laws should have mandatory “Sunset Provisions” so that our legislators are required to update the law on a regular basis to deal with changes in society and the world.
Not only would it make our laws relevant, but it would require our legislators to actually do some work learning about the law before they try to enact stupid laws.
“I know TARP and the Stimulus are very unpopular around these parts, but I like still having an economy.”
Big assumption that there would be no economy without those two atrocious pieces of spending. Especially as we watched TARP become a slush fund.