Conservatives Using False Quotes to Advance Their World View
In this advanced age we can find truth and untruth on the Internet with a few key strokes. However, as a public figure it is integral to the character of the person to verify through appropriate research the authenticity and origin of the dreck dripping from your mouth.
Here are some ‘made up’, ‘false’ quotes used by the ‘bright boys’ of the Republican Party:
1. Scott Walker(R) – “Thomas Jefferson said it best, that the government is best which governs least.” Thomas Jefferson never said, implied, or hinted at this.
2. Rand Paul(R) – “Patrick Henry said the Constitution is about restraining the government, not the people.” Patrick Henry never said, implied or hinted at this.
The primary fallacy comes from the Republicans false claim that the modern conservative movement is a direct descendant of the Founding Father’s vision for this country. In truth the Founding Father’s were true revolutionaries. They declared independence from a Sovereign Nation. They fought a war to drive that Nation from their lands. They established a Constitution based on the Iroquois Confederacy. They were forward thinking visionaries. There was nothing regressive or conservative in their approach.
The words of the Declaration of Independence stunned the world: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.(text extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence)
Remember to confront bullshit with facts. Do not argue. Do not attempt to convert those vested in their dogmatic opinions. Be informed. Listen to Radio Monterey for unfiltered information, news and opinion.
More information can be found at http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/fake-quotes-run-rampant-among-gop-candidates?cid=sm_fb_maddow