"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin, written shortly before Feb. 17, 1775, as part of his notes for a proposition at the Pennsylvania Assembly.
"The rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the General Government are levied... Our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus applied to canals, roads, schools, etc., the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spend a cent from his earnings." --Thomas Jefferson to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1811.
Those who quote historical icons out of context deserve neither praise, nor sympathy. Deckard, Bladerunner.
Oh, and someone that must have read D&D occasionally: "When I, a thoughtful and unblessed Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unblessed Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic--for that is a part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his. All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane." Mark Twain in Christian Science in 1907
I think it's kind of funny that he knows what color tawny is, and knows how to use it in conversation. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." - Seinfeld
"There is not in the world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American insensitive to every duty, regardless of every principle, bent only on amassing a fortune." Theodore Roosevelt (R)
And rich nymphomaniacs who spend their whole life doing science projects can afford to bask in idealism. I think what I love most about the founding fathers is that they had the idealism of social protesters, but they weren't poor or foreign, so you could still respect them.
Thomas Jefferson said something along those lines as well, I want to say he said "those who trade liberty for security deserve neither". Makes you really think about what those men wanted our country to be like, and how lately we've forgotten about it...
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. —Thomas Jefferson, 1802
