I Liked Socialism Once

That awesome moment....

Great Freemasons: Austin Augustus King (September 21, 1802 – April 22, 1870)

Austin Augustus King (September 21, 1802 – April 22, 1870), also known as Austin A. King and Austin King, was an American lawyer, politician, and military officer. A Democrat, he was the tenth Governor of Missouri and a one-term United States Congressman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Augustus_King



(Richmond Lodge 57, MO)

Che Guevera

If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.
Che Guevara, as quoted in The Quotable Rebel : Political Quotations for Dangerous Times (2005) by Teishan Latner, p. 112

(Art by Howard Chaykin)

Great Freemasons: Claude Pepper (September 8, 1900 – May 30, 1989)

If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world.
Claude Pepper

Claude Denson Pepper (September 8, 1900 – May 30, 1989) was an American politician of the Democratic Party, and a spokesman for left-liberalism and the elderly. In foreign policy he shifted from pro-Soviet in the 1940s to anti-Communist in the 1950s. He represented Florida in the United States Senate from November 4, 1936, to January 3, 1951, and the Miami area in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1963 until his death on May 30, 1989.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper

(Jackson Lodge 1, Tallahassee, Florida)

Baruch Spinoza (24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677)

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)

Great Freemasons: James Cash Penney, Jr. (September 16, 1875 – February 12, 1971)

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.)

Beaumont and Fletcher

He never is alone that is accompanied with noble thoughts.
Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure (1647).

(Art by Alex Ross)

Great Freemasons: William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930)

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)

Pope John Paul II

“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