Local PBS was showing some film documenting Richard Nixon's life,
especially the 1960 campaign.

First there was a clip of Kennedy's campaign proposals, then Nixon's
response.

I sat there dumb founded.

It was as if 48 years had passed, Kennedy was replaced by Obama, Nixon
was replaced by McCain, but the verbiage covered exactly the same
subjects.

It was a little eerie that we are still trying to resolve the same
problems as we were 48 years ago.

Will we ever learn?

Lew

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message

It was a little eerie that we are still trying to resolve the same
problems as we were 48 years ago.

Will we ever learn?

Lew

Doubt it, we've not learned in the past few thousand years. Greed, quest
for power, moral decay have done in many a strong empire.

"Lew Hodgett" wrote

It was a little eerie that we are still trying to resolve the same
problems as we were 48 years ago.

Will we ever learn?

Hell, try this from 148 years ago:

" The nation has been great, but the statesmen of the nation have been
little. Men have hardly been ambitious to govern, but they have
coveted the wages of governors. Corruption has crept into high
places--into places that should have been high--till of all holes
and corners in the land they have become the lowest. No public man
has been trusted for ordinary honesty."

"Ministers of the cabinet, senators, representatives, State legislatures,
officers
of the army, officials of the navy, contractors of every grade--all
who are presumed to touch, or to have the power of touching public
money, are thus accused. For years it has been so. The word
politician has stunk in men's nostrils. When I first visited New
York, some three years since, I was warned not to know a man,
because he was a "politician." We in England define a man of a
certain class as a blackleg. How has it come about that in American
ears the word politician has come to bear a similar signification?"

Anthony Trollope's "North America, Vol 2", Chapter V. circa 1861


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 8/18/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On Oct 17, 7:57*am, "Swingman" wrote:
"Lew Hodgett" wrote

It was a little eerie that we are still trying to resolve the same
problems as we were 48 years ago.

Will we ever learn?

Hell, try this from 148 years ago:

" The nation has been great, but the statesmen of the nation have been
little. *Men have hardly been ambitious to govern, but they have
coveted the wages of governors. *Corruption has crept into high
places--into places that should have been high--till of all holes
and corners in the land they have become the lowest. *No public man
has been trusted for ordinary honesty."

"Ministers of the cabinet, senators, representatives, State legislatures,
officers
of the army, officials of the navy, contractors of every grade--all
who are presumed to touch, or to have the power of touching public
money, are thus accused. *For years it has been so. *The word
politician has stunk in men's nostrils. *When I first visited New
York, some three years since, I was warned not to know a man,
because he was a "politician." *We in England define a man of a
certain class as a blackleg. *How has it come about that in American
ears the word politician has come to bear a similar signification?"

Anthony Trollope's "North America, Vol 2", Chapter V. circa 1861


You don't have to read Trollope to find accusations (most of them
true) of military supplier mismanagement: during the Civil War
contractors sent weevil infested hardtack and spoiled meat as a common
thing. It was more likely to happen than not. Cloth supplied for
uniforms was a cheesy as possible...made to hold up until put upon the
soldier's back.

Not a whole lot has changed.

Except I voted for Nixon back then and I won't vote for McCain.

On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:09:22 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:


"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message

It was a little eerie that we are still trying to resolve the same
problems as we were 48 years ago.

Doubt it, we've not learned in the past few thousand years. Greed, quest
for power, moral decay have done in many a strong empire.

It's worse than that. I was just reading an article in SA about the
migration out of Africa - it started approximately 50,000 years ago. I
suspect our ancestors even back then had a derogatory word for
"politician" or the tribal equivalent.

And at least one tribal group that said the migration was a waste of time
and resources :-).

Lew Hodgett wrote:

Local PBS was showing some film documenting Richard Nixon's life,
especially the 1960 campaign.

First there was a clip of Kennedy's campaign proposals, then Nixon's
response.

I sat there dumb founded.

It was as if 48 years had passed, Kennedy was replaced by Obama, Nixon
was replaced by McCain, but the verbiage covered exactly the same
subjects.

It was a little eerie that we are still trying to resolve the same
problems as we were 48 years ago.

Will we ever learn?

Lew

One thing has changed. Today Obama wants to require employers (at least
larger ones) to provide health insurance for their employees. Apparently
that makes him a wild-eyed socialist. A few decades ago a sitting President
proposed a similar law, his name was Nixon.