Originally Posted By RoadTrip Who said... <<"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 it's laborers, the genius of it's scientists, the hopes of it's children.">> It was a U.S. politician at the national level. Any guesses?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip ^^^ Yup... it’s Ike. Those were the good old days... when both Democrats AND Republicans made sense. Where did the country go wrong?
Originally Posted By patrickegan <<Where did the country go wrong?>> I'd say the 60's. Hey man, I don’t know if I like what you’re trying to say man. Like don’t be trying to lay a bad trip on us man! Like the sixties were a groovy time man, full of love, understanding and some good acid! When I think back all I can say is farrrrr out, mannn. Anyone know how to spell the sound a bong hit makes?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Anyone know how to spell the sound a bong hit makes?>> No, but when you passed a joint you usually said 'ear...
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF >>Anyone know how to spell the sound a bong hit makes?<< Well, a while back, in a chat room I used to yak in, there was a self-described pothead who would always signify his bong hits with something like: *bong hit* PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT...
Originally Posted By bboisvert <<Yup... it’s Ike. Those were the good old days... when both Democrats AND Republicans made sense. Where did the country go wrong?>> The Reagan era.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <The Reagan era.> While Democrats did start going a little crazy when they couldn't defeat President Reagan, I think it goes back further. Probably to HUAC hearings.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Boy, the way Glen Miller played. Songs that made the hit parade. Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days. Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight. Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days. And you know who you were then, girls were girls and men were men. Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again. People seemed to be content. Fifty dollars paid the rent. Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days. Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win. Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin. Hair was short and skirts were long. Kate Smith really sold a song. I don't know just what went wrong. Those Were The Days.
Originally Posted By DlandDug I don't suppose it occurs to anyone that Ike was also a politician who said things like this to impress voters. The military industrial complex was already well established when this statement was made. If arming our nation is deplorable, then it started to "go wrong" about the time of the Continental Army, I suppose. (I would say that it became particularly egregious during the Civil War, though.)
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<If arming our nation is deplorable, then it started to "go wrong" about the time of the Continental Army, I suppose.>> Ike was able to recognize that there WAS a tradeoff involved. He knew defense was necessary, but also acknowledged that every dollar spent on defense took a dollar away from needed social programs. He was not anti-defense; he just was able to see the big picture. That's something that the present Administration doesn't seem able to do.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh I took Ike's statement as more a statement of disappointment that we have to spend so much money on defense, rather than an argument against it. I think the present administration feels the same way.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer >>I don't suppose it occurs to anyone that Ike was also a politician who said things like this to impress voters<< Since the speech came at the end of his second term, I suspect impressing the voters wasn't his main concern. He knew it was one of the last major speeches of his public life.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe George just can't say no to ANY spending bill. It's awful. What happened to the fiscal conservative, socially liberal candidate I thought and we thought we were voting for? My wife and I just sit down to the nightly news and are stunned when he wants another 10 bill for Iraq when our kids don't have money for school teachers and we pay over 10 grand in property taxes! He has to stop this profligate spending! It is out of hand. We're eating with my father the republican hater in an hour or so and it's at a point where I can't argue too much with his ranting any more.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe Douglas---post 15--If the present admisistration feels so bad, they have to just say no. Let Europe and all the other countries ante up. We can't afford this bull any more and people are getting angry!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Ike's statement: "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 it's laborers, the genius of it's scientists, the hopes of it's children." Doug's take on it: <I took Ike's statement as more a statement of disappointment that we have to spend so much money on defense, rather than an argument against it.> Best proof in a while that you'll see things exactly the way you'd like to see them.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <Since the speech came at the end of his second term, I suspect impressing the voters wasn't his main concern.> Actually, the quote from an address given in the first year of his first term.
