An Eisenhower Quote

Lincoln, Roosevelt (Teddy) Ike, Reagan et al would be spurned by today's rabid rightwingers.
 
I seem to recall that you have expressed admiration for Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged and Objectivism in the past.
I have too but I'm not a fanatic about it.

I think Rand got it right on her critique of socialism (as in the Soviet version of it, not the right wing Alabama definition of it) and I think she made a significant accomplishment in developing a philosophy of thought (for good or bad). I also think she was correct on many of her insights about the strengths of capitalism. I also agree with her about rationalism and reason as our species primary survival tool though I think she borrowed greatly there from the enlightenment philosophers.

I also think she got a lot wrong. Her classifying her philosophy as "objectivism" is a misnomer. In significant areas it is anything but objective. I believe she was wrong in advocating lazzies-faire capitalism. That form of capitalism may work but it is a brutal and barbaric systems that is grossly unequitable and cheats many of the most productive memebers of society of a fair exchange of value for their work, ideas, goods and services. That's a contradiction Rand never addressed and we all know what Rand said about contraditions.

She also got it completely wrong about environmentalism. Modern environmentalism is not steeped in some self anihilating ultruistic nihilistic do gooder philosopy but rather it is based on protecting human health, conserving our finite natural resources and the protection of property rights both private and public.

So I see no problem with admiring Ayne Rand's accomplisments as long as it's done in its proper perspective. She got some things right and she got some wrong.
 
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A Quote from FDR

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Words of wisdom, that ring true today?
 

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"President Eisenhower describes his administration's political philosophy as 'dynamic conservatism,' then as 'progressive, dynamic conservatism,' then as 'progressive moderation,' then as 'moderate progressivism,' and then as 'positive progressivism.'" William Manchester in "The Glory and the Dream"

More details on quotation: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/ike.asp

"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 with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing." Dwight D. Eisenhower


Eisenhower could not and would not be a republican today, he was rather non partisan when you read his history. The republican party has been fighting the New Deal and the Great Society since both started, it is why they are a failure at governance, their ideas are only ideas of reactionary opposition to all that has made America great.
 
I Like IKE

I don't know about that but he was by far and away the best Republican President of the post war era by far. No other Republican President has come even remotely close to Ike.

IKE was the last Republican president. I became a Republican while IKE was president and I haven't had a Republican to vote for since IKE!
 
More Eisenhower quotes that seem to indicate that today's GOP rightwing would disown him:

“Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book.”


“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”


“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”


“Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.”


“If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom. ”


“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. 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 with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”


“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. ”
 
Don't they own the Democrats too?

Here's the difference: Warren Buffet is a Democrat and says the 1% should pay their share. Mitt Romney is a Republican and says the rich need more tax cuts.
 
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