My expectations have no further to fall. It is now impossible for a politician to disappoint me.

Face facts. Pay your debts or be someone else's slave.

How far gone we must be to have a politician boldly and arrogantly say that he and his fellow criminals are above the law and not suffer any consequences for it!

Considering the government school educated electorate, I doubt that most people could understand what was being said in Washington even if it was said in perfectly clear English. Even if they did understand it, most wouldn't care because they've been domesticated and tamed to just accept what scraps their masters give them.

Tied, gagged, and hanged: now there's the trifecta.

It's pretty obvious Waffler doesn't know the etymology of republic. Republic is from Latin "res publica" meaning "public matter" as opposed to a private matter (as in a monarchy). Democracy is derived from the Greek "demokratia" which means "rule of the people". They are not the same. In a democracy the majority mob can and will impose itself on the rights of the minority. A representative republic is supposed to operate on the principle that those elected have some experience and circumspection to oppose the majority when the majority is wrong. Too many of today's representatives do not have any personal principles that govern their actions. They will govern by poll numbers, individual rights be damned.

This quote doesn't seem to have much to do with liberty. I wonder, is beer also proof that God want us to have cirrhosis of the liver?

This quote doesn't seem nearly prolix enough for Bulwer-Lytton though it is certainly sagacious and erudite enough.

Our problem today is that the line between public and private has become so blurred that everything has become everybody else's business and is subject to regulation for the "common good". Where is the outrage when government regulates your property to the point that it is no longer any benefit to you? Where is the outrage when your personal conduct in your own home is controlled by some bureaucrat intent on "protecting" someone or something or other? In fact it has come to the point when we no longer own our property, we rent it via property taxes. We almost no longer even own ourselves or even our own thoughts.

This is the goal. Unfortunately human nature too often gets in the way.

Hating someone is a sin of commission. Being indifferent to them is a sin of omission. There is very little difference between the two. We ought to actively love our neighbors as ourselves.

If you do not love you do not affect those around you. You have no positive impact in this world. Like Waffler said, you have no bigger role than a stone. It is a sad thing to be remembered by no one when you are dead because in effect it means you have always been dead.

Ecclesiastes 11:1............. Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

I consider myself the keeper of my brother's liberty to freely make his own choices, good or bad. If you defend you brother's liberty, you inevitably defend your own. However, if your bad choices negatively impact my freedom, you can expect to hear from me.

For some reason this quote reminds me of Macchiavelli's advice to The Prince. "Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with."

This is the very essence of Christianity. Everything else is just the detritus that sticks to institutions over time, brought about by man's natural corruption.

Merry Christmas, everyone. I would like to thank you all for the thought provoking comments that you give to this forum. It is one of the best. Thank you to the seldom seen editor, as well. You always seem to come up with the very best quotes. My compliments.

Lord, help us all to recognize those false teachers and their false promises.

Everybody is somebody else's heretic. It reminds me of children screaming at each other, "I know you are but what am I?" The only difference is adults have the ability to do real damage to one another. People who cannot tolerate someone else's heresy are very insecure in their own beliefs and it is inherently childish.

Sometimes I think I'm the only person left who is not an heretic!

The first amendment is protection of thought and conscience for the minority, the majority, the powerful, and the weak, and they all need that protection from each other. Such is human nature.

Religion cannot be allowed to have the power of the state to compel because it will certainly be used.

Extremists on any side are not in it for Christ, God, or whatever religion they may put on as a disguise to hide themselves. They are in it for themselves for power or greed. Well said Mike and John Adams.

Anyone who has to enforce their religion through force of law are simply not secure in their own beliefs. Before they start examining their neighbor with hot pokers or breaking their bones on a rack, they ought to examine their own souls. Brilliant quote.

Jefferson was able to believe and say anything he wanted. Ain't America grand?