Maybe pointing fingers is impolite. That’s OK, if this finger pointing catches the attention of just one politician (doesn’t matter which party) I’d consider it a stunning success. So on to the quotes:
“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.”
Listen up politicians. Correct me if wrong here but wouldn’t “encouraging thrift” include governmental thrift? When was the last time we observed any of that?
“You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.”
OK politicians, explain why that statement is wrong and if not wrong why you constantly legislate in a manner that tends to weaken the strong. I dare ya!
“You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.”
Only wage payer I see politicians building up is government whether federal, state or local. Not exactly what I see as pro-business.
“You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred.”
Whoa politicians! Seems to me class hatred is what you excel at.
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.”
Go ahead, prove that one wrong!
“You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.”
DC “earns” nothing except what they take. Hey politicians: once you are taking it all and that still isn’t enough to pay the bills – then what?
“You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.”
Taking away initiative and independence is simple as taking a large enough percentage of what she/he earns. Seems you’ve got that pretty well figured out already.
“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”
Doing what you can and should for yourself is good ol’ rugged American Independence. Does our elected Congress prefer we be dependent? Their actions speak loudly, don’t they?
I came across the above quotes in some stapled together papers the missus showed me while going through some of her old family papers. The quotes were grouped into a single paragraph and identified as the words of Abraham Lincoln. As I read them I wanted to scream “Hey Mr. President, senators & representatives take these to heart”. With all the other burdens Mr. Lincoln carried he still had the common sense to succinctly state the things we obviously still deal with today. Only difference being how far from doing what is sensible for our country and citizens the politicians have taken us.
Below is the entire paragraph as I found it:
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
