random quotes and advice we've ignored...

"a republic, if you can keep it." - B. Franklin, on whether the Constitution created a republic or a monarchy.

"even more than money, political inheritance mocks our pretenses to equal opportunity." M. Kinsley

"as a nation we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' we now practically read it 'all men are created equal except negroes [insert minority or foreign group here].' when the know-nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal except negroes and foreigners and catholics.' at that point, i should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty...where depotism can be taken pure and without the base allow of hypocracy." - A. Lincoln

"convince the majority they face wicked people and the miscreants' rights evaporate." J. Morone

"observers have faulted our intervention in vietnam as evidence of american arrogance of power - attempts by the united states to be the world's policeman. but there is another dimension to american arrogance, the international version of our domestic great society programs where we presumed that we knew what was best for the world in terms of social, political, and economic development and saw it as our duty to force the world into the american mold - to act not so much the world's policeman as the world's nanny. it is difficult today to recall the depth of our arrogance." Colonel H. Summers, in 1982

"america would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like vietnam [insert any of the latest war effort led by a the last three presidents from texas] continued to draw men and skills and money like some demoniacal destructive suction tube." M. L. King

"oil is high-profile stuff. oil fuels military powers, national treasuries, and international politics. it is no longer a commodity to be bought and sold within the confines of traditional energy supply and demand balances. rather it has been transformed into a determinant of well-being, of national security, and of international power." R. Ebel

"in many cases, the united states has been busy arming opponents in ongoing conflicts - iran and iraq, greece and turkey, saudi arabia and israel, and china and taiwan. saddam hussein, the number one "rogue" leader of the 1990's, was during the 1980's simply an outstanding customer with an almost limitless line of credit because of his country's oil reserves. often the purchasing country makes its purchases conditional on the transfer of technology so that it can ultimately manufacture the item for itself and others. the result is the proliferation around the world of not just weapons, but of new weapons industries [to the least stable of areas]." C. Johnson

"this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the american experience. we must recognize the imperative need for this development. yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications...in the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. the potential for disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. we must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. we should take nothing for granted. only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense so that security and liberty may prosper together." D. Eisenhower, upon leaving office

if only people would examine history, perhaps we could avoid these messes...

go on and lose the gamble...