The View From Here

I have an iGoogle account.  For those of you who do not know what this is I would recommend that you find out.  It is a great start page for your internet browser since it brings together all kinds of your favorite content from around the internet into one place.  Very handy!  One of the pieces of information that my iGoogle page brings to me is random quotes.  Today there were a few good ones so I thought I would post them.  Here you go.

He may be mad, but there’s method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It’s what drives men mad, being methodical.
- GK Chesterton

Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.
- Laurence J. Peter

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.
- W. Somerset Maugham

There’s always somebody who is paid too much, and taxed too little - and it’s always somebody else.
- Cullen Hightower

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
- Alexander Hamilton

As to the last quote, if only Mr. Hamilton knew where we were today.

Brian

“In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.”  -Bertrand Russell

I suppose most of us don’t truly understand the depth of meaning in the celebrations that are generations removed from the event that is celebrated.  How do you keep it relevant to the people celebrating it years from when it happened?  I can’t think of a way to do this.  I don’t believe we are guilty of anything just because we didn’t experience the same things our fore fathers did, but it would make us negligent and unappreciative if we don’t try to at least attempt to understand what we are celebrating instead of just using it as an excuse to party and blow things up.  On the Fourth of July we celebrate our independence from a government that would impose it’s will upon the people it governs without allowing them any real form of appeal.  We celebrate the ability to make our own decisions about the laws of the land we inhabit.  We celebrate our ability to disagree on certain issues while holding up the freedom of the individual.

These things we celebrate were deemed important enough by our founders that they were willing to shed their own blood to secure them.  We are now some two hundred plus years away from the events that placed us where we are today.  Do we understand the freedom that we have?  Do I?  If we don’t we will soon loose it to the powerful few, who history has shown to corrupt quickly and easily if not held to account. Take the time to consider the freedoms you have, at what price they were bought, and what we are still paying today for them.  Marvel at the ability we have to voice our opinions without fear of retribution from those in power.  Consider intently the freedoms we enjoy so that we do not forget where they came from.

Thinking on the freedoms I have as a citizen of the United States also made me start thinking about the freedoms I have in Christ.  It is amazing to me how even though human events seem to loose their depth of meaning the further you get away from them, the importance of Christ’s death and resurrection seem to gain even more meaning the as time goes by.  I am free from the sin that separated me from the God who created me.  This is not because of something I did, but because of unmerited favor that was poured out on me by God.  I deserve this as much as anyone else does: not at all.  How much more should I not forget the freedom God has given me and how much more should I share it with those around me?

Brian

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.
– Franklin P. Adams

Oh, how true this rings of the current election cycle.  The only thing I know for sure is that I am not voting for Obama but I don’t want to vote for McCain either.  Both of these men are sold out to our current political structure (as is almost every other person in politics these days) and I think that change is needed.  The government seems to think that it is it’s job is to provide happiness and prosperity to everyone but, in actuality, it is not.  It is the individual’s responsibility to pursue these things in the bounds set by government to insure life (protection) and liberty (freedom).  I won’t ramble further.  To sum up, I really wish I had a viable candidate to vote for and not just someone to vote against. 

Brian

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together….

Carl Zwanzig

I never thought about it that way…….

Brian

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.

–Herbert Spencer

Considering the role that government wants to play these days, this is a very interesting quote.  I guess fools are more easily to manipulate so if you wanted a populace to control this would be an easy way to make sure you could.

Brian