THANK GOODNESS IT’S MONDAY #381

“NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE REAL

THE PROMISE OF DEMOCRACY”

 

Thank Goodness It’s Monday doesn’t “do” politics -- at least not overtly. 

However – 

Tomorrow is Election Day 2012. And as a matter of principle we will make a last minute attempt to add some wisdom and understanding to this election’s noisy and noisome process and thereby inform TGIM readers/leaders in a way which, we hope, will encourage you to participate tomorrow (if you have not been actively engaged all along). 

In addition: Ideally we will also find some lessons we -- each and all, without regard to political affiliation -- can take into our everyday world as well.

No stump speeches here: In the bundle of items that follow you’ll find nuggets of wisdom, touches of humor, quotes and anecdotes and perhaps some overlooked history. They’re drawn from sources inside and outside the political world that I hope we can agree are “informed.”

So let’s get going. 

 

I saw this on a bumper sticker, many elections ago.

 

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Plato (c.428-347 BCE) said that.

What this country needs is more people to inspire others with confidence, and fewer people to discourage any initiative in the right direction; more to get into the thick of things, fewer to sit on the sidelines merely finding fault; more to point out what’s right with the world, and fewer to keep harping on what’s wrong with it; and more who are interested in lighting candles, and fewer who blow them out.

Father James Keller (1900-1997) founder of The Christophers said that.

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) said that.

As I stand aloof and look

there is to me something profoundly

affecting in large masses of

men following the lead of those who do

not believe in men.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) shared that poetic thought in Leaves of Grass.

County judge, chair of a committee, President of the U.S., they are all the same kind of jobs. It is the business of dealing with people.

Harry S Truman (1884-1972) 33^rd US President said that.

Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing.

Financier and statesman Bernard Baruch (1870-1965) said that.

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) is alleged to have said that.

Never tell them what you won’t do.

Clergyman/Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (1908-1972) said that.

Be sincere. Be simple in words, manners, and gestures. Amuse as well as instruct. If you can make someone laugh, you can make that person think and make that person like you and believe you.

The so-called Happy Warrior, statesman Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944) said that.

People criticize me for harping on the obvious. Perhaps someday I’ll write an article on “The Importance of the Obvious.” … If all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, perhaps most of our big problems would take care of themselves.

The taciturn 30^th US President, Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge (1872-1933) said that.

Have you noticed that many people who laugh at kids who believe in Santa Claus are the same people who believe in campaign promises?

Comedian Joey Adams (1911-1999) is credited with that observation.

If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.

Graffiti in London, 1979

It’s useless to hold a person to anything he says while he’s in love, drunk, or running for office.

Actor/advocate Shirley MacLaine said that.

I can imagine a political campaign purged of all the current false assumptions and false pretenses – a campaign in which, on election day, the voters went to the polls clearly informed that the choice between them was not between an angel and a devil, a good man and a bad man, an altruist and a go-getter, but between two frank go-getters, the one, perhaps excelling at beautiful and nonsensical words and the other at silent and prehensile deeds.

Commentator and curmudgeon H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) wrote that.

These big politicians are so serious about themselves and their parties. This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it.

Humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) said that.

There are men who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry the nations with them and lead the activity of the human race.

TGIM favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) wrote that.

All voting is a gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it.

RWE’s friend and neighbor Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) said that.

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

French President Charles De Gaulle (1890-1970) concluded that.

TGIM Takeaway: In a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, “holds office”; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.

The 35^th US President, John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) gave us that Takeaway and I share it as a nonpartisan conclusion and will add only: 

If you don’t vote, you’ve got nothing more to say on the subject. 

I’m Geoff Steck and I approve these messages. 

I hope to see your right-minded participation as they tally the votes tomorrow.

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

 

P. S. Today’s TGIM headline -- “Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy” – originates with Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968).