I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat,
French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

If you think health care is expensive now,
Wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
- Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

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quote:

"I think it's to remind people that sins are not just individual," he says referring to the Catholic church's old seven deadly sins — lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. "There's also social sins .. .sins that affect the community at large and sins that an institution can engage in."

The New Mortal Sins

1.) genetic modification

2.) carrying out experiments on humans

3.) polluting the environment

4.) causing social injustice

5.) causing poverty

6.) becoming obscenely wealthy

7.) taking drugs

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While I don't carry water for the Pope.. ;-)

I don't have any argument with that list.

Me neither. This list was worth considerable discussion in our family. None of us are Catholic. Some of us are religious however.

The idea of social sins brings with it the idea of community and our shared obligation to the commons where we all live and work. This is an idea not given the respect it's due these days, IMHO.

Contrast that with the "I've got mine, now you go and get yours, if you can!" neo-conservative leaning list posted above.

Does put "Conservative" -vs- "Liberal" into some greater context doesn't it?

Heh..

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan

Boy that sums up the Bush Administration. F'ed up the whole country because of NO responsibility.

Amus, sounding a bit like the old Herbster there aren't we?

I just thought I'd beat him to the punch...

As a former Catholic, I find it kind of interesting that the head of the Catholic Church would find it a mortal sin to be obscenely wealthy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Museum