A few quotes worth considering.
1.
A neoconservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by reality.
- Irving Kristol
2.
A neoconservative is a socialist who’s been mugged by mythology.
- Anon.
3.
For us, this day is only the interment of an elderly and querulous celibate, who came too late and who stayed too long, and whose primitive ideology did not permit him the true self-criticism that could have saved him, and others less innocent, from so many errors and crimes.
- Christopher Hitchens on the death of Pope John Paul II
4.
However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.'
- Barry Goldwater
5.
To the average worker, Socialism doesn’t mean much more than better wages and shorter hours and nobody bossing you about.
- George Orwell
6.
What is religion? A scam. What is government? Oppression. What is property? Theft.
- Anon
7.
Rarely if ever do three men of the same profession meet together without forming some conspiracy against the public.
- Adam Smith
8.
Until I have seen evidence of the infallibility of man, I cannot support the imposition of any punishment so cruel as the death penalty.
- The Marquis de Sade
5 comments:
The Kristol quote was "A neoconservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality."
The phrase was 'conservative' long before the term 'neocon' existed.
Not if you attribute it to Irving Kristol. The man never said "conservative" - he said "neoconservative" in regards to that quote.
And the term "neocon" only exists as a pejorative or a term of endearment.
Smiling Neocon is correct, and this quote illustrates why I find myself at odds with neocons often. They are not conservatives in any sense of the word. They are merely liberals who chose to change their affiliation for political advantage.
"mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blooddimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned
the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" Yeats
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