Political or otherwise famous quotes

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I call bullsh!t. Lincoln was talking about the difference between slave labor, and a laborer for hire. He offers a well know economic argument on the topic of slavery that has been discussed in every argumentation class and a frequent debate topic in collegiate debate, If anything, it is an argument against the welfare state:

It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions, but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.

Now there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless.

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class--neither work for others nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters, while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families--wives, sons, and daughters--work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class.

Again, as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life.

Read more: State of the Union Address: Abraham Lincoln (December 3, 1861) — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/73.html#ixzz1gWhyAruT

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

3 posts removed that were off topic. this is a political cartoon thread - not political quotes thread.

1) It would have been a good topic to discuss. Why didn't you split it off into a new thread?

2) Conformist!

3) Are you going to hide these posts, or move the topic over to Site Discussion?

[Ban Hammer 13,247]

1) It would have been a good topic to discuss. Why didn't you split it off into a new thread?

2) Conformist!

3) Are you going to hide these posts, or move the topic over to Site Discussion?

you can always make a political quotes thread

[one...two...tree 2,762]

political cartoons - not political charts.

Stop being absurd.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I've split off a number of posts from the Political Cartoon thread that don't really fit and made them their own separate topic. Pithy sayings tend to loose their pithiness when posted in a thread lampooning politics. You can discuss the absurdity or validity of the quotes, if you wish, but they seem lost and misplaced in a sea of cartoons.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

That's less than $10/hour if you include benefits, workman's comp, and employer share of taxes.

[Danno 1,228]

Speaking of Ole Abe Iknow you can appreciate this quote as well.

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

Abraham Lincoln

[one...two...tree 2,762]