What Ron Paul should have said was "resist state control by corporatocracy. Another word for fascism. That's the government now.

The man (or woman) from Reston has it right again. Thank you, whoever you are, for your ability to mine the deeper meanings of often ambiguous assertions.

It is reasoning such as this that allows and encourages theocratic states under Catholicism, Islam, Mormonism, and, perhaps soon, protestant Christianity. The success of the U.S. has been due to its separation of church and state. The founders realized the danger of the church and completely left God and religion out of the Constitution. All the protesting and rationalizing in the world cannot change the intent of the founders. If we don't learn that the greatest ethic of humankind is treating one another with tolerance and compassion, all the worship of gods and religions will avail us nothing but continued war and killing.

I agree, Mike.

An obvious observation.

And what a conforming, single-drummer marching society we now have in this country.

And the only way to unfetter it is to pass a law prohibiting media from ownership or association in any way with other business interests.

Some truth here but it means little without further clarification of the author.

A good quote but I can see it is read quite differently by different people. An addendum to it should be "studied with an open mind."

Yeah, let's read only what pleases us and reinforces our opinions. Who wants to learn from mistakes and failures and read about all those horrible lives and deaths? Who cares? And what the heck does hatred of the U.N. have to do with this quote?

Another kudos for Robert.

Am surprised Justice Harlan would say something that ridiculous. There is now and always has been a class system in this country and most others. The rich and powerful are always at war with the working people and are so clever at it that most people never realize it.

This has long been thought to be true, but scientists have proven otherwise. Turns out that organized killing is a result of social conformity -- a conformity established by a few -- always the few who never risk the killing or being killed. Aggression may be biological, but war is social. New and better social methods (and better governments) can eliminate war, just as they have eliminated cannibalism, lynches and witch burning. But evil on a mass scale is taught, is contrived by deception and spread through demagoguery and ignorance. To kill thousands or millions is the result of moral insanity, not of human nature.

Stay in there, Reston and Sarasota. Just hope helorat never puts into action his violent feelings of hatred and jingoism. Hey, this is supposed to be rational discourse, isn't it? And I, too, am wondering about our editor's concentration on this subject. It may increase participation but certainly not balance.

Reston is right as usual. But it's not only the religious crazies that are the problem, it's the success of the rich and powerful in controlling the minds of men such as are represented by the comments here through control of the media and of history books. A very bright historian wrote, "....if you can control history, what people know about it, if you can decide what's in people's history and what's left out, you can order their thinking. You can order their values. You can in effect organize their brains by controlling their knowledge. The people who can do that, who can ontrol the past, are the people who control the present." And, boy, these comments prove that.

Mussolini would have been proud of Mr. Feulner. And the Heritage Foundation.

What is ludicrous is to call oneself a Christian or human or moral who believes as those who put thumbs down on this statement. What a pure hell this world would be if everyone felt this way.

How did capital punishment get into Milton's analysis? I really like his rationalizing the starting of wars because other nations do. Isn't it the credo of this country that we are the most democratic and humanitarian of all?

No, the war was started by a gang of greedy imperialists just as planned and explained in detail in their Project for a New American Century. And Coolidge's remark omits one of the most important items of taxing: how they will be apportioned.

That's why it's everyone's responsibility to stay informed, vote and demonstrate when bastards like the thugs who run our government now are violating the Constitution and basic moralilty.

Without taxes you have no protection, no infrastructure to provide clean water, roads, public education, etc., etc. What an ignorant quotation.

Reston is right again.

What Reagan meant by "true tax reform" was you the people pay the tax and we the rich will trickle some of it down to you. The graduated income tax as it was designed originally is still the best tax system ever devised. And since the powerful elite have used their oligarchic power to become obscenely rich, a wealth tax would be quite reasonable and ethical now.

Supporting a flat tax is exactly what the plutocrats would have us do. The working people of the country provide for the greater part of all the infrastructure of society including educated citizens who furnish the labor for which owners get full benefit as employees, now 500 plus times the income of the average employee. The fairest and most decent tax is the graduated income tax--- which at one time was 90% at the highest level.

A good and true statement. We do enjoy these wonderful freedoms in this country, but, unfortunately, the "...presentation to the public..." has been aborted by the rich and powerful. They not only have control of lawmakers but also of all media. Vox populi is pretty much squelched.