Tag: QOTD

Quote of the Day: Who Benefits?

Seawriter
Seawriter
1510806
 

“Cui bono?” – Cicero

“Who benefits?” That is part of a longer quote by the Roman politician and lawyer Cicero. In full it runs: “L. Cassius ille, quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat, identidem in causis quaerere solebat, ‘cui bono fuisset?’ (Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a most honest and most wise judge, was in the habit of asking time and again in lawsuits: ‘to whom might it be for a benefit?'”)

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: The Economy and Government Mismanagement

Seawriter
Seawriter
2610882
 

“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.” – Milton Friedman

We are going to see a repeat of this over the next year or two.  We are headed for recession, and possibly depression (although no one will call it that) even if the Republicans take over control of both houses of Congress next year. Part of that is due to existing inflation. But an even larger part will be due to government mismanagement.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: A College Degree

Seawriter
Seawriter
158
 

“In the end, a college degree is either valuable or it isn’t. If it’s valuable, it will pay for itself. If it’s not valuable, no one should pay for it. Either way, there’s no reason for the government to be involved in higher education. The more involved it does get, the worse the problem becomes.” — Antony Davies

If one could graph the decline of the institutes of higher education in this country, it would follow a curve inverse to the level of government involvement in academia. I am not talking about the 19th-century land grant schools created by the Morell Act. Yes, state and federal governments established colleges and funded them over the next 100 years, but it was a period of benign neglect. The government pretty well let the institutions run themselves.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Longevity

Seawriter
Seawriter
108920
 

“If you’re starting a new job today and intend to match Queen Elizabeth’s work longevity you’ll have to keep working there through April 11, 2093.” – Keith Olbermann

Yes, I am quoting Keith Olbermann. On Ricochet. But sometimes even the worst man in the world has a valid point, one worth hearing. Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then. This is one such time.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Inflation

Seawriter
Seawriter
13111023
 

“Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.” — Ronald Reagan

I graduated from college and began my career in 1979. Inflation had been out of control since the first oil shock in 1973. Jerry Ford, despite a well-intentioned attempt to Whip Inflation Now, had not.

Preview Open

Member Post

Seawriter
Seawriter
129178
 

Since this is an era when many people are concerned about ‘fairness’ and ‘social justice,’ what is your ‘fair share’ of what someone else has worked for? – Thomas Sowell A question especially valid this week, when Biden announced a massive transfer of wealth from the working class to the upper class, in the form […]
Join Ricochet!

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

Quote of the Day: Planting the Almond Tree

Seawriter
Seawriter
89968
 

“Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!’ I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?’ And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.’ I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.’” – Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

These are troubled times. We have had several threads here on Ricochet wondering whether the United States will dissolve into chaos in the next year or the one after that. I have been seeing those kinds of conversations on other blogs I frequent. And yes, I believe it could happen, and have written about getting prepared.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Taxpayers

Seawriter
Seawriter
1512
 

“The taxpayer – that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.” – Ronald Reagan

With the almost-certain passage of the Manchin-Schumer Bill, it appears they are raising our taxes again. But don’t worry, the new taxes will only be paid by people making more than $400,000 annually and corporations. Except it does not work that way. Those making more than $400K each year generally got there because they are smart. They will hire accountants and tax preparers to find ways to shelter that money and make less than $400K/year. As for corporations? They will pass the costs of the extra taxes to their customers in the form of increased prices. That results in inflation.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Corruption

Seawriter
Seawriter
27131223
 

“The problem is not that the system has become corrupt, but that corruption has become the system.” – Joe Mannix

Today, over 60% of Americans view the Federal government as corrupt.  That is up from 44% in 2017, a dramatic rise. We see plenty of evidence of it every day; a two-tiered justice system, laws and government handouts that favor a small elite, casual disregard of statute law by federal officials. Even on local levels, it has become endemic.  No one is held responsible for rising crime in our big cities. Even in small-town America, accountability seems absent. Not one person has been fired over the screwups in Uvalde that led to the death of 19 children. Corruption has become the system.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Going Too Far

Seawriter
Seawriter
86798
 

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T. S. Eliot

Today is the 53rd anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was one of this nation’s greatest accomplishments. I watched the launch on my 14th birthday. Four days later, at a church picnic, I was one of scores of attendees who were ignoring a beautiful July summer day in Michigan to huddle around fuzzy portable televisions to watch the Moon landing. Unless you were there, you cannot imagine the impact that made.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Golden Eggs

Seawriter
Seawriter
38191598
 

“In short, killing the goose that lays the golden egg is a viable political strategy, so long as the goose does not die before the next election and no one traces the politicians’ fingerprints on the murder weapon.” – Thomas Sowell

Sowell wrote this many years ago — in the 1990s as I recall.  The goose was still alive. Now? If not dead, it is dying. If it is not dead by November, it will be soon afterward. The ordered, safe life we have enjoyed since the fall of the Soviet Union is coming to a close.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: The Great Anniversary Festival

Charlotte
Charlotte
119
 

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: The Constitution

Seawriter
Seawriter
810872
 

“The Constitution is not the law that governs us, it is the law that governs those who govern us.” – Randy E. Barnett

On this Independence Day weekend, it is as instructive to reflect on the Constitution as it is to reflect on the Declaration of Independence. If all have “certain inalienable rights,” the Constitution is the tool to preserve them. That is why I like this quote. Professor Barnett reminds us of the real purpose of the Constitution. To prevent our President Brandons from becoming Prime Minister Fidel Trudeaus.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Revolutionaries

Seawriter
Seawriter
64
 

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – Eric Blair (George Orwell)

Today is Eric Blair’s 119th birthday, and this quote seems particularly apt for today.  Especially after watching the left and the mainstream media twist the truth in their reporting on Dobbs and Bruen, the Supreme Court decisions reversing Roe v. Wade and New York’s “may issue” law.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Be Dad

Seawriter
Seawriter
77676
 

I am serving as a delegate in the Texas State Republican Convention and have to take off in a few minutes. Since I don’t have time for a quote of the day, I am going to run a column I originally wrote for Father’s Day in 2014 as my QotD.

An article in The Atlantic magazine reports children whose fathers were actively involved in their lives during their teen years, especially during high school, are more likely to finish college than those who do not.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: On Courage

Seawriter
Seawriter
37727
 

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” – G.K. Chesterton

This is Memorial Day weekend. Although the traditional start of summer, Memorial Day has a serious purpose. It is not the day we honor our veterans. It is the day we honor those that died in the service of our country, those who gave “the last full measure of devotion.”

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Freedom

Seawriter
Seawriter
188908
 

“Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” – Ronald Reagan Jan 5, 1967

Reagan was right about one thing: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We are in a battle for the soul of our country; especially the principle that it was founded on individual liberty and freedom. That battle has to be won (or lost) at the grassroots. When a critical mass supports freedom, it grows like wildfire. When it does not, freedom dies.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Courage

Seawriter
Seawriter
21131194
 

God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.  – Chester Nimitz

It is easy to look at what is going on in the world and feel despair. Things look hopeless. Crime seems out of control, inflation is running wild, there are shortages of life’s necessities, and a real possibility of a nuclear exchange exists. Some days you feel like going back to bed and crawling into a fetal ball.

Preview Open

Quote of the Day: Grief and Love

Seawriter
Seawriter
99941
 

“Grief is the price of love, but it is love that makes the world go round, or at least one of the most important things that make life worth living. Love and the moral sense complicate life greatly, and make it difficult for most of us, for without them there would be no grief or any apprehension of evil; but without them we should be little different, conceptually, from an amoeba under a microscope.” – Theodore Dalrymple

Today is my 45th anniversary. It is the fifth one I have spent without Janet, my wife of 40 years, but despite her death, it is still our anniversary. I still miss her deeply and remember her in my daily prayers. I will go to her grave today and give her flowers. (Something I could never do while she lived due to her allergies.)

Preview Open