The
ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain, by fear, nor to
exact obedience, but contrariwise, to free every man from fear, that he
may live in all possible security; in other words, to strengthen his
natural right to exist and work without injury to himself or others.
No, the object of government is not to change men from rational beings
into beasts or puppets, but to enable them to develop their minds and
bodies in security, and to employ their reason unshackled; neither
showing hatred, anger, or deceit, nor watched with the eyes of jealousy
and injustice. In fact, the true aim of government is liberty.
Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (1670)
(Art by Mitch Breitweiser)
No serious-minded man should have time for the mediocre in any phase of his living.
James Cash Penney
James Cash Penney, Jr. (September 16, 1875 – February 12, 1971) was an
American businessman and entrepreneur who, in 1902, founded the J. C.
Penney stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cash_Penney
(Initiated
into Wasatch Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, on April 18,
1911. A member of both the Scottish and York Rites, Penney was
coroneted a 33rd Degree on October 16, 1945, and received the Gold
Distinguished Service Award by the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons, in Kansas City, Missouri in 1958.)
He never is alone that is accompanied with noble thoughts.
Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure (1647).
(Art by Alex Ross)
Next
to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important
individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which,
united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth
of civilization than any other institution established by the human
race.
William Howard Taft, Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils, chapter 3 (1913)
William Howard
Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the
United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the
United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both
of these offices.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft
( Kilwinning Lodge 365, Ohio)
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit
rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human
heart a desire to know the truth- in a word, to know himself- so that,
by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness
of truth about themselves.”
John Paul II,
Fides Et Ratio: On the Relationship Between Faith and Reason: Encyclical Letter of John Paul II
“I Will Not Promise the Moon”: Alf Landon Opposes the Social Security Act, 1936
by Alf Landon
The U.S. Congress enacted the Social Security Act, originally called
the “Economic Security Bill,” in August of 1935. The Act was aimed at
giving older Americans a pension that would provide them with a
reasonable standard of living as they aged. The Social Security Act was
politically moderate. The agency created
to administer these benefits was to be funded by both employees and
their employers, as opposed to using funds collected from general tax
money. Still, it represented a milestone in moving this country toward a
modern welfare state; as a result of this legislation, the United
States joined other industrialized nations in offering old-age pensions
and unemployment compensation. Several groups offered a spirited
resistance to the program. Alf Landon, the Republican candidate for
President in 1936, offered strong opposition to Social Security based on
its burden on employers and employees as well as the possibility that
the money coming into the Treasury would not be put away for later
liabilities.
…Beginning next January employers must, in
addition, begin paying taxes on the payrolls out of which your wages are
to come. This is the largest tax bill in history. And to call it
“social security” is a fraud on the workingman.
These taxes
start at the rate of $2 in taxes for every $100 of wages. They increase
until it is $6 in taxes for every $100 in wages.
We are told
that this $6 will be equally divided between the employer and the
employe [sic]. But this is not so, and for a very simple reason. The
actual fact will be, in almost every case, that the whole tax will be
borne either by the employe [sic] or by the consumer through higher
prices. That is the his¬tory of all such taxes. This is because the tax
is imposed in such a way that, if the employer is to stay in business,
he must shift the tax to some one else.
Do not forget this:
such an excessive tax on payrolls is beyond question a tax on
employment. In prosperous times it slows down the advance of wages and
holds back re-employment. In bad times it increases unemployment, and
unemployment breaks wage scales. The Republican party rejects any
feature of any plan that hinders re-employment… …One more sample of the
injustice of this law is this: Some workers who come under this new
Federal insurance plan are taxed more and get less than workers who come
under the State laws already in force.
For instance, under the
new law many workers now 50 years old must pay burdensome taxes for the
next fifteen years in order to receive a pension when they are 65;
whereas those of the same age who come under some State laws- pay no
taxes and yet actually get a larger pension when they reach the age of
65.
These are a few reasons why I called this law unjust and
stupidly drafted. There is a further important point in connection with
the compulsory saving provided by the plan of the present
administration. According to this plan, our workers are forced to save
for a lifetime. What happens to their savings? The administration’s
theory is that they go into a reserve fund, that they will be invested
at interest, and that in due time this interest will help pay the
pensions. The people who drew this law understand nothing of government
finance…
…Let me explain it in another way—in the simple terms
of the family budget. The father of the family is a kindly man, so
kindly that he borrows all he can to add to the family’s pleasure. At
the same time he impresses upon his sons and daughters the necessity of
saving for their old age.
Every month they bring 6 per cent of
their wages to him so that he may act as trustee and invest their
savings for their old age. The father decides that the best investment
is his own I O U. So every month he puts aside in a box his I O U
carefully executed, and, moreover, bearing interest at 3 per cent.
And every month he spends the money that his children bring him, partly
in meeting his regular expenses, and the rest in various experiments
that fascinate him.
Years pass, the children grow old, the day
comes when they have to open their father’s box. What do they find? Roll
after roll of neatly executed I O U’s.
I am not exaggerating the folly of this legislation. The saving it forces on our workers is a cruel hoax.
There is every probability that the cash they pay in will be used for
current deficits and new extravagances. We are going to have trouble
enough to carry out an economy program without having the Treasury flush
with money drawn from the workers…
Source: Alfred M. Landon, “I Will Not Promise the Moon,” Vital Speeches of the Day (October 15, 1936), 26–27.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/8128/
Alfred
Mossman Landon, known as Alf Landon (September 9, 1887 – October 12,
1987), was an American Republican politician, who served as the 26th
Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. He was best known for having been
the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States,
defeated in a landslide by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936
presidential election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Landon
(Fortitude Lodge 107, KS)
“No
commander was ever privileged to lead a finer force; no commander ever
derived greater inspiration from the performance of his troops.”
― John J. PershingJohn
Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), was a
general officer in the United States Army who led the American
Expeditionary Forces in World War I. Pershing is the only person to be
promoted in his own life time to the
highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies
(a retroactive Congressional edict passed in 1976 promoted George
Washington to the same rank but with higher seniority). Pershing holds
the first United States officer service number (O-1). He was regarded as
a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United
States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall,
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing
(Lincoln Lodge 19, NE)
