Something To Think About Archive

Medal of Honor recipient John J. McCloy believed that “Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.”

Using The DOGE team to ferret out wasteful government spending has yielded some pretty interesting boondoggles and has the potential to create some real savings. What to do with that money is the big question. Rather than send out “dividend” checks to the American people has Trump has suggested, possibly fueling inflation, 100% of it should go to paying down the National Debt since all that spending really used borrowed money; and then, the budgets of those agencies and departments permanently reduced to create a balanced budget going forward. That would make us less dependent upon foreign governments buying our debt and ensure our fiscal viability.

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

The late Michael Landon believed that “Right from the start, we are dying. Live to the limit every minute of every day. Whatever you want to do, do it now.”

Famed baseball player and manager Leo Durocher said: “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you an idiot.”

According to Congresswoman Barbara Jordan: “The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport.”

Theologian Nathaniel Emmons once noted that “Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.”

Dropping charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams who has been accused of graft and pardoning convicted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and then signing an Executive Order allowing U.S. companies to bribe overseas officials in order to get business is just wrong. We understand that some of this is a rebound on the lawfare that was practiced against Trump, and some is a quid pro quo for cooperation with I.C.E., but it’s a step, or three, too far. Bribing state officials here and abroad is wrong. Period. Finally, we note that four of the past ten Illinois Governors served time for fraud or corruption. Some people deserve to be prosecuted and go to jail.

Writer John Steinbeck believed that “People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it.”

Canadian columnist Maurice Switzer says, “You seldom get what you go after unless you know in advance what you want.”

It’s been said that “Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.”

English writer John Ruskin believed that “Really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them.”

Author Elaine St. James notes that “Simplifying is not necessarily getting rid of everything we’ve worked so hard for… It’s about deciding what’s important to us and gracefully letting go of the things that aren’t.”

HUD Secretary Scott Turner said his internal DOGE team has identified $260 million in savings just two days prior to the discovery of $1.9billion in funds “mis-placed” by the Biden Administration. Meanwhile, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said he has canceled a Biden-era $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.” It’s been reported that the EPA had also sent $160 million to a Canadian electric bus manufacturer, bypassing at least five U.S. sources.

Remember that “…you’ll always have time for the things you put first.”

Pliny the Elder reminds us that “Opportunities lost can never be regained.”

Will Rogers once noted that “We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”

Gandhi said: “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

Author Ethel Watts Mumford believed that “The doors of Opportunity are marked “Push” and “Pull.”

The Trump family has made $80million since the election selling Trump watches, crypto, sneakers and other trinkets oftentimes with Trump himself voicing the ads hawking his wares. We recognize that it’s legal, certainly when compared to the Biden’s selling their access to power for decades, but we still think that it’s a poor image for the Leader of the Free World to personally profit from his popularity while in office. After leaving the White House, sure, make all you can, but not while sitting in the oval office. It’s called “public service” for a reason.