slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.

Small men, seeking great wealth or power, have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of public service into mere personal opportunity.

I am a conservative Republican, but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state. The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process.

A woman has a right to an a******n. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right.

The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least – and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.

Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.

The oldest philosophy in the world is conservatism, and I go clear back to the first Greeks. ... When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.

While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.

The Republicans have a positive talent for self-destruction.

I am frankly sick and tired of the political preachers telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

To insist on strength ... is not war-mongering. It is peace-mongering.

The president, who finds so much to complain about in other areas of the world, apparently saw nothing wrong in recognizing a C*******t regime that has k**led more people in its short history of control over the teeming millions of that great country than any other collection of dictators or tyrants in the history of the world.

Government should stay the hell out of people's business.

Today neither of our two parties maintains a meaningful commitment to the principle of States' Rights. The 10th Amendment is not a 'general assumption' but a rule of law. States rights mean that states have a right to act or not to act, as they see fit, in areas reserved to them.

I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.

I thought of something my old coach at Staunton had often said: 'We win some, we lose some, and some get rained out; but we always suit up.'

There's no greater service to this country than the defense of its freedom.

The effect of welfarism on freedom will be felt later on - after its beneficiaries have become its victims, after dependence on government has turned into bondage and it is too late to unlock the jail.

I fear Washington and centralized government more than I do Moscow.

We Americans understand freedom; we have earned it, we have lived for it, and we have died for it. This nation and its people are freedom's models in a searching world. We can be freedom's missionaries in a doubting world. The genius of the American system is that through freedom we have created extraordinary results from plain old ordinary people.

None of us here in Washington knows all or even half of the answers ... If you love your country, don't depend on handouts from Washington for your information. If you cherish your freedom, don't leave it all up to big government.

E******y, rightly understood as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences; wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.

Sex and politics are a lot alike. You don't have to be good at them to enjoy them.

AlexT

Too bad he is no longer alive. Were he to run for the presidency today he'd be a shoe-in.

teabag09

He was my first v**e! Mike

Tiptop789 Loc: State of Denial

Next p**********l e******n is going to be a doozy. I hope someone good is in the race.

archie bunker Loc: Texas

No good ones left. Well, except for me, and I just don't want to deal with it all. Wouldn't put Mrs. Bunker through it either, although she'd be a major asset.
She'd go through the media, Washington D.C., and around the globe kicking people in their motherf@#kin heads for being such a bunch of jackwipes. I'd appoint Chuck Norris as head of her security detail in case she misses a head here, and there.
Me, I'll be busy pointing out heads that need to be kicked, and driving the tractor plowing up part of the White House lawn for the food plot we're gonna plant for our horse after my security briefing informing me about which heads need to be kicked first.
I wouldn't care about your "special interest groups", talking points, whining, about being left out, or any of that.
We'll just get back to basics. The ones outlined in our founding documents.
All you "liberal arts", "women's studies", "black theology", or wh**ever people can learn to dig a post hole, plant a seed, raise a cow, or, wh**ever to sustain yourself. If you choose to continue supporting China, big tech, and the evil corperations you constantly b***h about....then that's on you, and you've earned your kick.

We can't have it both ways, and it appears that there is no middle ground other than me accepting, and celebrating that a person born with a penis is a woman, and I OWE every poor soul on the planet a piece of my paycheck because I'm an unapologetic, white, male, heterosexual, American.

Sorry..........rant over.

Can I count on your v**e?

PeterS

Did you know that Barry Goldwater used to be one of the most extreme members of the Republican party? Now, you would think he was a flipping liberal. It's amazing how far down the Republican party has gone and what's scary is the thought that they have further to go...

skyrider

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

It couldn't have been for president, Mike. You had to be 21 to v**e when he ran in 1964. I wanted to v**e for him in '64, but couldn't...except in our school poll. I don't believe you were able to, either. We are about the same age, and I was six years short of 21 in 1964.

I shall assume you were in Arizona, and v**ed for him later, as Senator.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Yeah, I recall well. Figuring the average age of OPPers, I imagine most of 'em remember the 1964 p**********l race.

I also remember the famous campaign ad LBJ ran...the one with the little girl picking flowers with the atomic bomb blast in the background. It was only allowed on the air that one time.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

I should'a included the following among his famous quotes...

"Nixon was the most dishonest individual I have ever met in my life. He lied to his wife, his family, his friends, his colleagues in the Congress, lifetime members of his own political party, the American people and the world."

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Tip, my friend...That qualifies as a pipedream.

PeterS

It's amazing how far over the edge our current conservatives have gone...and sad as hell when you think about it.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Yeah, when referring to the ERWNJs, but a pathetically funny sad.

Tiptop789 Loc: State of Denial

Sure, you got my v**e.

Tiptop789 Loc: State of Denial

Yeah, you're right. On another note, how's that grandson?