The AmericanPlatform.org Blog

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
–James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
–British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Some responses from Democrats when asked about the constitutionality of Obamacare:

“[T]he federal government can do most anything in this country.”
–Rep. Pete Stark (CA)

“Are you serious? Are you serious?”
–former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA)

“I don’t worry about the Constitution on this, to be honest. … It doesn’t matter to me.”
–Rep. Phil Hare (IL)

“There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the federal government has anything to do with most of the stuff we do. How about [you] show me where in the Constitution it prohibits the federal government from doing this?”
–Rep. James Clyburn (SC)

“Well, basically, we’re not looking to the Constitution on that aspect of it.”
–Congresswoman Kathy Hochul (D-NY26)

“It’s not a privilege, it’s a right”
–Congressman John Lewis (D-GA)

“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”
–Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

“These [Republicans] don’t have a sense of the average folks out there. They don’t know what it means to be middle class.”
–Joe Biden addressing 87 wealthy Democrats at a $10,000-per-plate fundraiser

“Wow, Jesus just f***ed #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere … Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler “Hey, Buffalo’s killing them”
–tweet by Bill Maher

“So what happens in Crackerland [the South] this week, as we like to say? We have, what, Alabama and Mississippi coming up [Tuesday].”
–progressive radio talk-show host Stephanie Miller

“You know, these [conservative] women, somebody really needs to go repossess their ovaries. Really, truly, they have no right to them. They are fabulous, little organs and they have absolutely no right to be estrogen-bearing beings. Okay? Just cut ‘em off, let ‘em go through the hot flashes, let ‘em just sit there and complain about hormone therapy, okay? Just take the ovaries and get it over with. Because they don’t deserve to have estrogen. They really don’t. It’s a privilege.”
–radio talk-show host Randi Rhodes

“Listen carefully when you hear screeching accusations about fairness. Just below the surface, you’ll hear an appeal to greed and envy totally inconsistent with the American spirit.”
–Ronald Reagan

“The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution.”
–Ronald Reagan

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.”
–George Washington, Address to the Members of the Volunteer Association of Ireland, 1783

“Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands.”
–Thomas Jefferson

“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”
-James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788