If you think you get plenty of ranting political e-mails from friends and acquaintances on an average day, they just seem to multiply exponentially during Political Season, don’t they? I have a favorite antagonist – normally the sweetest guy on the planet – who, if you were to judge solely by the e-mails he forwards to me, can’t decide if he’s a Libertarian militiaman or a Fascist. This week, he’s a secret Democrat — he just hadn’t really given it quite enough thought before he forwarded this one:
—Original Message from xxxxxxxx@comcast.net:
> Harry Truman.
>
> When President Truman retired from office in 1952,
> his income was substantially a U.S. Army pension reported to have been
> $13,507.72 a year.
> Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps
> and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and,
> later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
>
> When offered corporate positions at large salaries,
> he declined,stating, “You don’t want me. You want the office
> of the president, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American
> people and it’s not for sale.” Even later, on May 6, 1971, when
> Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he
> refused to accept it,writing, “I don’t consider that I have done
> anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.”
>
> We now see that past presidents, have found a new
> level of success in cashing in on the presidency, resulting in untold wealth.
> Today, many in,Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy
> while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.
>
> I think good old Harry Truman was correct when he
> observed, “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a
> whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any
> difference. I, for one, believe the piano player job to be much more honorable
> than current politicians.”
>
> Where do we find another Harry, we sure could use one – NOW!!
I just can’t resist tweaking this guy… it’s become one of my favorite sports:
Thank you and God Bless You for my smile of the day. I didn’t know in how high regard you hold ol’ liberal Democrat Harry Truman!
I thought you’d like to know more about your new favorite former President.
From the Truman Library’s biography of Give ‘Em Hell Harry:
“In his domestic policies, Truman sought to accomplish the difficult transition from a war to a peace economy without plunging the nation into recession, and he hoped to extend New Deal social programs to include more government protection and services and to reach more people. He was successful in achieving a healthy peacetime economy, but only a few of his social program proposals became law. The Congress, which was much more Republican in its membership during his presidency than it had been during Franklin Roosevelt’s, did not usually share Truman’s desire to build on the legacy of the New Deal.
The Truman administration went considerably beyond the New Deal in the area of civil rights. Although, the conservative Congress thwarted Truman’s desire to achieve significant civil rights legislation, he was able to use his powers as President to achieve some important changes. He issued executive orders desegregating the armed forces and forbidding racial discrimination in Federal employment. He also established a Committee on Civil Rights and encouraged the Justice Department to argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of plaintiffs fighting against segregation.”
From the White House’s biography:
“In June 1945 Truman witnessed the signing of the charter of the United Nations, hopefully established to preserve peace.
Thus far, he had followed his predecessor’s policies, but he soon developed his own. He presented to Congress a 21-point program, proposing the expansion of Social Security, a full-employment program, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing and slum clearance. The program, Truman wrote, “symbolizes for me my assumption of the office of President in my own right.” It became known as the Fair Deal.”
I know you like quotations, so here are a few that I’m sure you’ll enjoy:
“Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”
“When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.”
“It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”
My personal favorite from Truman’s Special Letter to Congress on the Internal Security of the United States (August 8, 1950) (click for the full text… substitute the word “terrorists” for “Communists”, and boy, that sounds familiar!):
“…[T]here are some people who wish us to enact laws which would seriously damage the right of free speech and which could be used not only against subversive groups but against other groups engaged in political or other activities which were not generally popular. Such measures would not only infringe on the Bill of Rights and the basic liberties of our people; they would also undermine the very internal security they seek to protect.
Laws forbidding dissent do not prevent subversive activities; they merely drive them into more secret and more dangerous channels. Police states are not secure; their history is marked by successive purges, and growing concentration camps, as their governments strike out blindly in fear of violent revolt. Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
We must, therefore, be on our guard against extremists who urge us to adopt police state measures. Such persons advocate breaking down the guarantees of the Bill of Rights in order to get at the communists. They forget that if the Bill of Rights were to be broken down, all groups, even the most conservative, would be in danger from the arbitrary power of government.”
So, hats off to you for admitting your admiration for one of the greatest acknowledged unapologetic liberal Presidents of the 20th Century!
Changed your Voter’s Registration to Democrat yet?
