Mark Fiore has a great animation on his website that finally solves the riddle of which politicians in this country are actually unabashed socialists.
Here are the quotes from the animation, along with who said them:
I am glad to know that there is a system of labor where the laborer can strike if he wants to. I wish to God that such a system prevailed all over the world.
There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains.
There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country.
The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.
All who work to produce should share equitably in the fruits of their labor.
Government must have a heart as well as a head.
…we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
We will establish a new system that makes high-quality health care available to every American in a dignified manner and at a price he can afford.
The price tag on pollution control is high. The program I shall propose to Congress will be the most comprehensive and costly program in this field in America’s history.
This requires comprehensive new regulations.
Vanishing loopholes and a minimum tax will mean that everybody and every corporation pay their fair share.
Let us begin in unity, with justice, and love.
We have pledged to help our citizens find affordable medical care in the later years of life.
These reforms are the act of a vibrant and compassionate government.
4 Comments
Those quotes were probably taken out of context.
Besides, which politician hasn’t promised the moon and then failed to deliver? It’s their S.O.P.
By the way, if you like quotes then here is a good one. Oh the irony!
The single reference to Mr. Gingrich in Mr. Reagan’s diaries – a telling indication of how prominently the then-future Speaker figured in the Gipper’s mind – is a charge that Mr. Gingrich’s ideas would “cripple our defence program.”
“Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism,” Elliott Abrams, an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration, writes in the National Review.
So does this imply that Obama is to the right of these illustrious Republican presidents? ‘>D
Abraham Lincoln believed strongly in the value of labor, “”Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” In the same speech as the quote in the video (at New Haven, Connecticut March 6, 1860), Lincoln stated, “I don’t believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else.” Lincoln was consistent with these views through much of his life. In 1847 he said, “”And, inasmuch [as] most good things are produced by labour, it follows that [all] such things of right belong to those whose labour has produced them. But it has so happened in all ages of the world, that some have laboured, and others have, without labour, enjoyed a large proportion of the fruits. This is wrong, and should not continue. To [secure] to each labourer the whole product of his labour, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government.” So, all this being said, Lincoln’s quote rings true.
Teddy Roosevelt was a staunch campaigner against the power of the trusts, founded the US Forest Service and introduced what, at the time, were advanced concepts of forest management to America, and expanded the National Park Service. His quotes ring true.
Although at the end of his tenure as president, Dwight Eisenhower warned of the power of the military industrial complex and its impacts on society. His quotes ring true.
America’s initial major pieces of environmental legislation and the regulations that went along with them were passed under Nixon’s administration. No matter what you think of Tricky Dick, he was very supportive of these laws and the steps that were required to implement them. His comments ring true.
Reagan? May well be seriously out of context or simply a campaign statement. Haven’t really studied the man a great deal, yet. He did take steps to close some loopholes and taxes were, in modern terms, raised a number of times during his administration, but he was basically a “don’t tax but spend as much as you can” president. Based on the context of his record, these quotes don’t ring especially true.
George W? Comments as Medicare Part D was being passed and enacted. Did he really feel this way? I don’t think George cared a lot for the plight of others. Not a very compassionate man, in my mind. He said it, though, and whether in context or not, I don’t think he was very sincere.
So, GWN, most of the comments sound like context was there if one judges by the writings and actions of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Nixon. I question the context of Reagan and especially George W.
GWN, go ahead and search on any of the quotes (like I did) and you can see the full context.
Thanks for the story about Reagan’s diaries — here’s a link to that story http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/gingrichs-reagan-ties-debated-1317638.html