“Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people.”

Context: government can only do what the people allow it to do.

Once the government has become in toto, aloof from We The People, as is now exemplified by the statist theocracy infesting this land, the sentiment of the quote takes on even greater meaning and clarity.

To follow up on Mike, the Senate, House , and Obama and his cabinet have lost all contact with the average citizen. They live like kings and queens as evidenced by Barack and Michelles frequent expensive vacations at our expense while they tell us to tighten our belts. Pelosi didn't like the plane she was using to fly her and her entourage to California each week, so she now flies a 747. Why we continually reelect these people is a mystery.

This quote seems to ignore the existence of win/win scenarios, buying into a negative view of the price for all actions. jim k, you are completely out of contact with reality and buying into the inventions and lies of a radical fringe that would oppose anything and everything that a black president says and does. The Obamas have not been on "frequent" or "expensive vacations at our expense". For instance, Michelle's recent trip to Spain was paid for by herself. Check your facts before sharing the lies.

Our Founding Fathers were a bastion of wisdom and should be followed very closely. And Reston? The "Radical Fringe" as you put it, is about to retake America in massive numbers. Keep waving your hopey - changey button! :)

This is what our President SHOULD be saying when the masses beg for government subsidy of their daily bread. The inconvenient truth is that as long as we use Monopoly money as currency in this country (and nearly every other country) there will be extreme booms and busts and loss (i.e. confiscation) of the citizens' property -- that is how the banking system works today and it centralizes immense power into the hands of the few that eventually own everything and everyone. As long as they keep the left and the right fighting amongst each other, we ignore the real root cause of economic calamity. The solution isn't for the government to borrow more money to pay for the consumption of the people today -- do the math, no person or corporation can survive that economic model -- it is the road to destruction leaving only those to whom we 'owe' as our saviors/masters. There are more and more people waking up to this deception, the question is whether they will reach critical mass soon enough to stop it. Is this such a 'radical' idea?

More great words from a great leader.

Government is to fight for our liberty of economic and personal freedom. The government has shown there corruption openly to all that they take it away. Safety nets are for those that put them up and not for strangers. Welfare states work well with closed borders don't you think ! limiting but for a few at the time. Considering the social nature of the socialism, once started, corruption conceived . Unawares brought in to take advantage of our liberty at a time of weakness. To not only spy out our liberty but also to steal it.