Politicians From Texas

"...does not our Lord tell us that our yea is to be yea and our nay is to be nay? In other words, genuine believers are to be true to their word. How, then, could a true Christian make a promise before God and the American people to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution and then turn around and ignore that promise? Ron Paul lives his Christian faith and takes his oath to the Constitution seriously."

"In the end, nothing happened. Basically, the night of the debate, I was down there, and I reacted to what I perceived Ron Paul to have said, which is basically to blame America for the attacks of 9/11. The next day, everybody talked about it, the reports came out, people read the transcripts, and he didn't actually say that. He said, he was talking about American policy, and the effects of American policy there. And the reality is, we never introduced any resolution, there was never a petition, and that morning we basically just dropped the subject. [...] I've invited Ron Paul, I've invited all the candidates. Every candidate has been invited to come to Mackinac, if he's available and he can make it, we'd love to have him. [...] Actually I'd argue they ought to make me the honorary national co-chairman for the Ron Paul campaign, because what I've probably started doubled his name ID and got him more exposure that he'd have ever gotten on his own. So from that regard you guys ought to be sending me flowers rather than nasty emails, give me a break. [...] Whoever the Republican nominee, I'll be out there supporting him, and if it's Ron Paul, I'll be front and center."

"What can you do? More and more Americans are carrying a gun in the car. An ex-cop I know advises that if you have to use a gun on a youth, you should leave the scene immediately, disposing of the wiped off gun as soon as possible. Such a gun cannot, of course, be registered to you, but one bought privately (through the classifieds, for example.) I frankly don't know what to make of such advice, but even in my little town of Jackson, Texas, I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self-defense. For the animals are coming."

"The liberals want to keep white America from taking action against black crime and welfare. [...] Jury verdicts, basketball games, and even music are enough to set off black rage, it seems."

"I miss the closet. Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities. They could also not be as promiscuous. Is it any wonder the epidemic started after they "came out of the closet," and started hyper-promiscuous sodomy? I don't believe so, medically or morally."

"Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for that pro-communist philanderer Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressman. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day."

""Poly" means more than one, and ticks are bloodsucking parasites."

"Let Saigons be bygones / Don't you blow this world in two."

"No lesbian left behind."

"Find what you like, and let it kill you."

"I do not speak of the grave and immediate issues of foreign policy, although they concern me constantly. I speak of the great transcendent issues which affect the life of nearly every human being on this planet. We care that men are hungry--not only in Appalachia but in Asia and in Africa and in other spots in the world. We care that men are oppressed--not only among ourselves but wherever man is unjust to man. We care that men should govern themselves and shape their own destinies--not only in Kentucky but in every corner of every continent. We care for peace, not only for ourselves but for every country that is torn by conflict. George Washington fought for a Declaration of Independence which said "all men are created equal." It did not say "all Americans," or "all Westerners" or "all white men." All are equal in the eyes of God; and in the right to use their talents, and to provide for their families, and to enjoy freedom. This is our goal in America. This is our concern, not simply as a matter of national interest or national security. It is part of the moral purpose of the American Nation. So this is the measure of your responsibility. I know that you are willing to accept that responsibility and that you want to share in the life of America. We have always believed that each man could make a difference. This faith in each man's significance is at the root of human dignity. Yet, it is often difficult to see how an individual young person can make a difference in today's world."

"Science has shown the complexities of nature to be beyond ordinary understanding. World events--the rise and fall of nations--even survival and death--may seem at times beyond ordinary human control. Enormous factories and great cities seem to exist and grow apart from those who run them and live in them. The old, tried values of family and neighborhood and community are imperiled or eroded. Man himself seems to be in danger; trapped between contending forces of science and growth, increasing numbers and movements that he can hardy understand. Yet this is our world. The discoveries are ours. We raised the cities and we reach for the stars. We unveiled the mysteries and wove the intricate patterns of today. It is our central task to make this world serve to enrich the dignity and the value of the human being. We will do this not through riches or position, or power, or comfort. You will find meaning only by sharing in the responsibilities, the dangers, and the passions of your time. A great American told us to ask what we could do for our country. By asking, you will not only help others, you will be ling purpose to your own life."

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

"As it has come to every generation of Americans, to your hands--to your willingness to work and sacrifice and dare--will be entrusted the fate of the American experiment. Though the responsibility is the same, your task is different and much more difficult than any that have gone before. First, your world will be a young person's world. Fifty-five percent of the world's population is under the age of 25. By 1968 the average age of an American citizen will have dropped to 25. Your generation, the younger generation, is the world's majority. Second, you inherit a world with the greatest of danger, the largest difficulties, and the most promising destiny in history. No longer can we ignore the hopes of the poor and the oppressed. And for the first time we have the power to fulfill those hopes. You may witness a rebirth of hope or the ruin of civilization, you may witness the defeat of misery or the destruction of man. These are choices which you, too, are called upon to make. Third, as an American citizen today, you are also a citizen of the world. Your cause is truly the cause of all mankind."

"We are the children of revolution. The history of America is the history of continuing revolution. That revolution has conquered a continent and it has extended democracy. It has given us unmatched mastery over nature, and it has given us the tools to conquer material wants. It has set the stage for a new order of society--devoted to enriching the life of every human being on a scale never before thought possible. True, these revolutions have been peaceful; but they have shaken the entire globe. Our struggle against colonial rule is still reshaping continents. Our achievements have lifted the hopes and ambitions of men who live everywhere, lifted him for a better life. Our political ideas have helped to make "freedom" a rallying cry in every corner of the world. And if the consequences of these forces sometimes cause us difficulty or create danger, then let us not be dismayed. For this is what America is all about; to show the way to the liberation of man from every form of tyranny over his mind, his body, and his spirit. We cannot, and we will not, withdraw from this world. We are too rich, too powerful, and too important. But most important, we are too concerned."

"Think with me today of just how much there is to do about us. You must rebuild the cities of America and you must rescue the countryside from destruction. You must wipe out poverty and you must eliminate racial injustice. You must labor for peace and freedom and an end to misery around the world. The Great Society will offer you the chance to do this work. It does not promise luxury and comfort and a life of ease. It does promise every American a chance to enrich his spirit and to share in the great common enterprises of our people."

"As long as you are black, and you're gonna be black till the day you die, no one's gonna call you by your goddamn name! So no matter what you are called, nigger, you just let it roll off your back like water, and you’ll make it! Just pretend you're a goddamn piece of furniture!"

"Toward that end, when I spoke last month to the Congress, I expressed the hope that the new leadership of the Soviet Union might come and visit our land--come to see us, to meet us, to learn firsthand the determination here in our beloved America for peace and the equal determination to support freedom. I am gratified that this expression is receiving the active, the constructive--and, I hope, the fruitful--attention and the interest of the Soviet Government. I have reason to believe that the Soviet leadership would welcome my visit to their country--as I would be very glad to do. I am hopeful that before the year is out this exchange of visits between us may occur. As I have said so often before, the longest journey begins with a single step--and I believe that such visits would reassure an anxious world that our two nations are each striving toward the goal of peace. So let it be said and let it be known that wherever America has responsibility, wherever America has opportunity, we shall be found always trying. So I believe it is for the long effort ahead-not for the end of the passing moment--that our great national consensus has formed and will actually be preserved."

"We must meet the responsibilities here if we are to be equal to the opportunities there. But the success of all we undertake--the fulfillment of all that we aspire to achieve--rests finally on one condition: the condition of peace among all people. Mr. Schary and Mr. Feinberg, in your citation tonight, the words expressed the essence of America in the thought that--"As a country, we try." I believe that it is the highest legacy of our democracy that we are always trying--trying, probing, failing, resting, and up trying again--but always trying and always gaining. And this is the pursuit and the approach that we must make to peace. Not in a day or a year or a decade in 120 nations or more-not, perhaps, in a lifetime--shall we finally grasp the goal of peace for which we reach tonight. But we shall always be reaching, always trying--and, hopefully, always gaining."

"In division, there is never strength. In differences, there is no sure seed of progress. In unity our strength lies and on unity our hope for success rests. So let us never forget that unity is the legacy of our American democracy. Through the veins of America flows the blood of all mankind--from every continent, every culture, every creed. If we built no more arms, or no more cities, or no more industries, or no more farms, we would be remembered through the ages for the understanding that we have built in human hearts. It is in the heart that America lives and has its being--and it is there that we must work, all together and each of us alone. We must work for the understanding, the tolerance, and the spirit of benevolence and brotherly love that will assure every man fulfillment and dignity and honor whatever his origins, however he spells his name, whatever his beliefs, whatever his color, whatever his endowments. If this be our purpose, and if this be our accomplishment, then our society will be great."

"I come here today to speak not to posterity but to your generation. In a new and changing world you receive the oldest trust of all. George Washington, in his first Inaugural Address, said: "The destiny of the republican model of government is justly considered... as deeply, as finally staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people." In the years since he spoke the great experiment has prospered. Where we once stood alone, today the sun never sets on free men, or on men struggling to be free. Even where dictators rule, they often find it necessary to use the language of the rights of man and sometimes find it necessary to modify other dictatorships. For our democracy has proven the most powerful secular idea in the history of man. But the record of success does not mean that we will continue to be successful. The spread of freedom does not guarantee freedom will continue to flourish. The fact we have grown does not mean we will continue to grow."

"I took the oath as the President only 12 or 13 days ago. Since my State of the Union Message on January 4 before my inauguration, I have sent to the Congress--will have, by the end of this week--16 messages--messages that are facing up to conflicts, messages that involve controversy, and don't doubt it, and messages that respond to the needs of this society. For what we have asked, we stand ready tonight to welcome all support and to confront all opposition. Believing that our requests are right, and that our cause is just, this administration is determined that the opportunity of this rare and most precious moment shall not be denied, defaulted, or destroyed. If some say our goals are idealistic, we welcome that as a compliment. For 188 years, the strongest fiber of America has been that thread of idealism which weaves through all our effort and all our aspiration. So let the world know--and let it be known throughout our own land--that this generation of Americans is not so cynical, and not so cool, not so callous that idealism is out of style. In a national house that is filled to overflowing, we are determined that the lives we lead shall not be vacant and shall not be empty. Your Government is concerned not with statistics but with the substance of your schools, and your jobs, and your cities, and your family life, and your countryside, your health, your hopes, your protection, your preparedness--and your rights and opportunities. For as Emerson once said: "The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities nor the crops, but the kind of man that the country turns out." So we are concerned tonight with the kind of man that the country turns out in these times and the times that are to come."

"Your energy and your sacrifice are needed. It is our job to tap those resources, and to help provide the chance to serve. We have already begun. Thousands of volunteers are needed today for the Peace Corps--to bring hope and the ideals of freedom to the villages and towns of more than half the world. Thirteen thousand young Americans have already accepted this responsibility in 46 countries. In the next 4 years we hope to double the size of this effort. Five thousand VISTA volunteers are needed this year to enlist in the war against poverty. All our programs for Appalachia will not succeed without the work of individual volunteers that are filled with compassion for their fellows, and a willingness to serve their country. I am so glad that it seems to me that here at the crossroads of this great university is where education and Appalachia meet."

"It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in."

"I'm going to have to bring up the nigger bill again."

"Mr. Vice President, I think it is no wonder that so many Presidents have cheerfully and gratefully been the guests of the Anti-Defamation League. For the work that you have done in the local communities as well as in the halls of Congress, you have ignited the flames of freedom across this great country. Wherever your torches burn, there tolerance and decency and charity have been illuminated. Bigots and bias hide whenever you come into view. But you are much more than anti-prejudice--you are pro-justice and you are pro-freedom. So it is with great pride and satisfaction that I come here this evening to commend you and to salute you. And I am very proud to share this platform tonight with a man whose whole life has been a visible dedication to truth and to justice and to leadership in the field of fair play. I judge him to be one of those eloquent and uncommon men who feels in his faith and who holds in his heart the compassion that is a sure sign of a man's real strength of character. Your President is proud to have as our Nation's Vice President your own devoted friend, Hubert Humphrey."

"Tonight, I want to share with you some thoughts on what I conceive to be the meaning of this moment in our national life. In all of history, men have never lived as we are privileged to live tonight, at this rare and at this precious moment. Our arms are strong--our freedoms are many. Our homes are secure--and our tables are full. Our knowledge is great--and our understanding is growing. We enjoy plenty--we live in peace. And this is much--but there is more. Out of the years of fire and faith in this 20th century, our diverse peoples have forged together a consensus such as we have not known before--a consensus on our national purposes and our national policies and the principles that guide them both. This consensus is new. We have come to it more suddenly than we foresaw--and more fully than we anticipated. Tonight questions are being asked about the meaning of that consensus--proper, penetrating, and profound questions. Thoughtful men want to know--are we entering an era when consensus will become an end in itself? Will we substitute consensus for challenge? Will a devotion to agreement keep us from those tasks that are disagreeable?"

"In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we affirmed through law that men equal under God are also equal when they seek a job, when they go to get a meal in a restaurant, or when they seek lodging for the night in any State in the Union."

"To these trusted public servants and to my family and those close friends of mine who have followed me down a long, winding road, and to all the people of this Union and the world, I will repeat today what I said on that sorrowful day in November 1963: "I will lead and I will do the best I can." But you must look within your own hearts to the old promises and to the old dream. They will lead you best of all."

"Unworthy as I am of your honor, I deeply appreciate your generosity. The torch of John Kennedy that I picked up when he faltered I shall proudly carry on as long as I have the energy and the life to carry it. I am most grateful to B'nai B'rith and the Anti-Defamation League. They have the gratitude of this Nation. In your half century of fighting discrimination you have never tired, you have never faltered, you have never lost faith in your cause and your cause has given faith to your Nation."

"Tonight, for myself, I want to turn back to the ancient Scriptures for the answer: "He that observeth the wind shall not sow and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." If we were to try, this restless and stirring: and striving nation would never live as the captive of a comfortable consensus. So we must know that the times ahead for us--and for the world, for that matter--are not to be bland and placid. We shall know tests. We shall know trials--and we shall be ready. For I believe more will be demanded of our stewardship than of any generations which have ever held the trust of America's legacy before us. So let me be specific. We are at the threshold of a new America-new in numbers, new in dimensions, new in its concepts, new in its challenges. If the society that we have brought already to greatness is to be called great in the times to come, we must respond to that tomorrow tonight. The unity of our people--the consensus of their will--must be the instrument that we put to use to strengthen our society, undergird its values, elevate its standards,. assure its order, advance the quality of its justice, nourish its tolerance and reason, and enlarge the meaning of man's rights for every citizen. For I believe with the Justice Brandeis that: "If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold." And this is what we are striving to do here in your Capital City--and in your National Government."

"In the Civil Rights Act of 1965, we affirmed through law for every citizen in this land the most basic right of democracy—the right of a citizen to vote in an election in his country. In the five States where the Act had its greater impact, Negro voter registration has already more than doubled."

"I do not believe that the Great Society is the ordered, changeless, and sterile battalion of the ants. It is the excitement of becoming—always becoming, trying, probing, falling, resting, and trying again—but always trying and always gaining."

"The third article was union. [...] By working shoulder to shoulder, together we can increase the bounty of all. We have discovered that every child who learns, every man who finds work, every sick body that is made whole—like a candle added to an altar—brightens the hope of all the faithful. So let us reject any among us who seek to reopen old wounds and to rekindle old hatreds. They stand in the way of a seeking nation. Let us now join reason to faith and action to experience, to transform our unity of interest into a unity of purpose. For the hour and the day and the time are here to achieve progress without strife, to achieve change without hatred—not without difference of opinion, but without the deep and abiding divisions which scar the union for generations."

"In each generation, with toil and tears, we have had to earn our heritage again. If we fail now, we shall have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith, that freedom asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored. If we succeed, it will not be because of what we have, but it will be because of what we are; not because of what we own, but, rather because of what we believe. For we are a nation of believers. Underneath the clamor of building and the rush of our day's pursuits, we are believers in justice and liberty and union, and in our own Union. We believe that every man must someday be free. And we believe in ourselves."

"Our enemies have always made the same mistake. In my lifetime—in depression and in war—they have awaited our defeat. Each time, from the secret places of the American heart, came forth the faith they could not see or that they could not even imagine. It brought us victory. And it will again. For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest sleeping in the unplowed ground. Is our world gone? We say "Farewell." Is a new world coming? We welcome it—and we will bend it to the hopes of man."

"We aspire to nothing that belongs to others. We seek no dominion over our fellow man, but man's dominion over tyranny and misery. But more is required. Men want to be a part of a common enterprise—a cause greater than themselves. Each of us must find a way to advance the purpose of the Nation, thus finding new purpose for ourselves. Without this, we shall become a nation of strangers."

"Invested just a few weeks ago with the trust of America's consensus, we are grasping the nettles of our society. We are not avoiding controversy to prolong the political consensus--rather, we are striving to use the consensus to resolve and to remove the political controversies that have already stood too long across the path of our people's progress and their fulfillment."

"Twenty thousand women will be needed, this summer, to help prepare deprived young children for success in school. All of you are needed to organize community action programs--to map the strategy and to carry out the plans for wiping out poverty in each community. The effort to restore and to protect beauty in America demands the volunteer efforts of private citizens, alert to danger, demanding always that nature be respected. In every area of national need the story is almost the same. The Great Society cannot be built--either at home or abroad-by government alone. It needs your sacrifice and it needs your effort. I intend to continue to search for new ways to give all of you a chance to serve your country and your civilization. And I hope to move toward the day when every young American will have the opportunity-and feel the obligation--to give at least a few years of his or her life to the service of others in this Nation and in the world."

"We all know that the roots of injustice run deep. But violence cannot redress a solitary wrong, or remedy a single unfairness. Of course, all America is outraged at the assassination of an outstanding Negro leader who was at that meeting that afternoon in the White House in 1966. And America is also outraged at the looting and the burning that defiles our democracy. We just must put our shoulders together and put a stop to both. The time is here. Action must be now. So, I would appeal to my fellow Americans by saying, the only real road to progress for free people is through the process of law and that is the road that America will travel."

"Let's face it. Our ass is in a crack. We're gonna have to let this nigger bill pass."

"They came here—the exile and the stranger, brave but frightened—to find a place where a man could be his own man. They made a covenant with this land. Conceived in justice, written in liberty, bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all mankind; and it binds us still. If we keep its terms, we shall flourish."

"First, justice was the promise that all who made the journey would share in the fruits of the land. In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write."

"Of those to whom much is given, much is asked. I cannot say and no man could say that no more will be asked of us."

"We are one nation and one people. Our fate as a nation and our future as a people rest not upon one citizen, but upon all citizens. This is the majesty and the meaning of this moment."

"For every generation, there is a destiny. For some, history decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own. [...] Our destiny in the midst of change will rest on the unchanged character of our people, and on their faith."

"Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his fellow, saying, "His color is not mine," or "His beliefs are strange and different," in that moment he betrays America, though his forebears created this Nation."

"I believe that we must always be mindful of this one thing, whatever the trials and the tests ahead. The ultimate strength of our country and our cause will lie not in powerful weapons or infinite resources or boundless wealth, but will lie in the unity of our people."

"The world's most affluent society can surely afford to spend whatever must be spent for its freedom and security. We shall continue to maintain the military forces necessary for our security without regard to arbitrary or predetermined budget ceilings. But we shall continue to insist that those forces be procured at the lowest possible cost and operated with the greatest possible economy and efficiency. To acquire and maintain our unprecedented military power, we have been obliged to invest more than one-half of every dollar paid in taxes to the Federal Government. The Defense budget has grown from $43 billion in Fiscal Year 1960 to more than $51 billion in Fiscal Year 1964. I now estimate the Defense expenditures for Fiscal Year 1965 to be about $49.3 billion, or approximately $2 billion less than in Fiscal Year 1964. I further estimate that Defense expenditures for Fiscal Year 1966 will be reduced still another $300 million. There are two main reasons for this leveling-off in Defense expenditures: First, we have achieved many of the needed changes and increases in our military force structure; Second, we are now realizing the benefits of the rigorous Cost Reduction Program introduced into the Defense establishment during the past four years. As I have stated--and as our enemies well know--this country now possesses a range of credible, usable military power enabling us to deal with every form of military challenge from guerrilla terrorism to thermonuclear war. Barring a significant shift in the international situation, we are not likely to require further increments on so large a scale during the next several years. Expenditures for Defense will thus constitute a declining portion of our expanding annual Gross National Product, which is now growing at the rate of 5 percent each year. If, over the next several years, we continue to spend approximately the same amount of dollars annually for our national defense that we are spending today, an ever-larger share of our expanding national wealth will be free to meet other vital needs, both public and private. Let me be clear, however, to friend and foe alike. So long as I am President, we shall spend whatever is necessary for the security of our people."

"We will strengthen our military alliances, assist freedom-loving peoples, and continue our Military Assistance Program. It is essential to continue to strengthen our alliances with other free and independent nations. We reaffirm our unwavering determination that efforts to divide and conquer free men shall not be successful in our time. We shall continue to assist those who struggle to preserve their own independence. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a strong shield against aggression. We reaffirm our belief in the necessity of unified planning and execution of strategy. We invite our NATO allies to work with us in developing better methods for mutual consultation and joint strategic study. We shall continue to seek ways to bind the alliance even more strongly together by sharing the tasks of defense through collective action. We shall continue our program of military and economic assistance to Allies elsewhere in the world and to those nations struggling against covert aggression in the form of externally directed, undeclared guerrilla warfare. In Southeast Asia, our program remains unchanged. From 1950, the United States has demonstrated its commitment to the freedom, independence, and neutrality of Laos by strengthening the economic and military security of that nation. The problem of Laos is the refusal of the Communist forces to honor the Geneva Accords into which they entered in 1962. We shall continue to support the legitimate government of that country. The Geneva Accords established the right of Laos to be left alone in peace. Similarly, the problem of Vietnam is the refusal of Communist forces to honor their agreement of 1954. The North Vietnam regime, supported by the Chinese Communists, has openly and repeatedly avowed its intention to destroy the independence of the Republic of Vietnam through massive, ruthless, and incessant guerrilla terrorism against Government and people alike. Our purpose, under three American Presidents, has been to assist the Vietnamese to live in peace, free to choose both their own way of life and their own foreign policy. We shall continue to honor our commitments in Vietnam."