Favorite Political Quotes

Below are some of my favorites political quotes. If you have any recommendations please feel free to share them.

“How is it that the strange idea of making the law produce what it does not contain—prosperity, in a positive sense, wealth, science, religion—should ever have gained ground in the political world? The modern politicians, particularly those of the Socialist school, found their different theories upon one common hypothesis; and surely a more strange, a more presumptuous notion, could never have entered human brain.”—Frederic Bastiat, "The Law", 1850 (PDF)

“A culture obsessed with technology will come to value personal convenience above almost all else, and ours does. That has consequences we will explore. Among those consequences', however, is impatience with anything that interferes with personal convenience. Religion, morality, and law do that …”—Robert H. Bork, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, 1996, p 9

Their Aspirations Must Be Met!

As I listened to the news Thursday Feb 10th  and heard President Obama’s remarks regarding President Mubarak’s decision to not leave office. I was struck by his words. To better illustrate my thoughts I’ve made three substitutions to the text of his remarks shown below; Egypt to America, Egyptian to American, and United States to the administration.

“As we have said from the beginning of this unrest, the future of America will be determined by the American people. But this administration has also been clear that we stand for a set of core principles. We believe that the universal rights of the American people must be respected, and their aspirations must be met.  … 

To Con-Con or Not

Of late in Utah there has been a bit of news surrounding a legislative initiative to recommend that the state request the holding of a constitutional convention as outlined in Article V of the US Constitution. There are two ways to propose amendments to the Constitution which must be ratified by 3/4s of the states (either by their legislatures or by their own conventions as determined by Congress). The first is when 2/3rds “of both Houses of shall deem it necessary” and the second is when 2/3rds of the legislators of the states call a convention for proposing amendments. I’ve sent a couple of e-mails on this to my state rep and made several comments to a post by Holly on the Hill. Below is a summary of my thoughts on a convention.