Presidents’ Day Rag
Today is “Presidents’ Day”, so here are a few “Presidential” thoughts for “America Is Back” – Proxy War – Blow Up Pipelines – Raytheon runs the Pentagon – “Drenched in innocent blood” – “Nothing fundamentally will change” – longtime Corporate Joe Biden:
1) George Washington’s Farewell address – beware foreign entanglements
“Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.”
2) FDR – excessive corporate power is Fascism
“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”
3) Eisenhower – dismantle the military industrial complex
“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . .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 the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
4) JFK – Time for peaceful revolution
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
5) LBJ – On lying – then facing political reality and doing the right thing
“In Asia, we face an ambitious and aggressive China but we have the will and we have the strength to help our Asian friends resist that ambition. … we are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.”
“My fellow Americans: – As President and Commander in Chief, it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply.”
“I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”
6) Nixon – The importance of being earnest
“I am not a crook”
7) Ford – Red Lines – He was not bluffing
“The communist leaders in Moscow, Peking and Hanoi must fully understand that the United States considers the freedom of South Vietnam vital to our interests. And they must know that we are not bluffing in our determination to defend those interests.”
Gerald Ford, US House of Representatives minority leader, July 1965
8) George W. Bush – On Achievement
“Mission accomplished”
9) Obama – On Idle threats (his version of “noting fundamentally will change”)
“Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”
“My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”