Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
I hate all bungling as I do sin, but particularly bungling in politics, which leads to the misery and ruin of many thousands and millions of people.
Eckermann, Johann Peter. Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret. Translated by John Oxenford, George Bell & Sons, 1874, p. 539.
With 42 years of tenure, Corning was the longest serving mayor in the country.
Most people think that in a democracy, the government has more control over the economy than it really does as Hoover observed almost a century ago. However, the major issue between liberals and conservatives is whether or not the government should use the tools that it does have that might influence the economy and to what extent the government should ameliorate the damage that the poor and middle class suffers from the recession or depression. Unemployment insurance and food stamp distribution are basic examples of amelioration. When the Great Depression hit, Hoover was president and he chose not to use the powers of government and became America’s worst President at managing the economy.
This classic, notorious quotation was stated by President Herbert Hoover in the first year after the Stock Market Crash that triggered the Great Depression. It shows how out of touch Hoover and the Republican party was at the time. Unemployment was running around 25 percent and there was no social safety nets—people were literally starving and millions were homeless. Not only did Hoover oppose any unemployment relief, but he accused those who were advocating that of being unethical and immoral for doing so. His view was that the Federal Government should not interfere and that welfare or relief would weaken the moral fiber of the people. In 1932, the American Voters rejected him and choose FDR who advocated using the instrument of the Federal Government to ameliorate and who led the initiative for unemployment relief.
This quotation is interesting for two reasons. First, this is one of the most severe criticisms of a cabinet and ministers in English history. The second reason of interest is that it was these same ministers who made the policies and the decisions that would bring on the American Revolution. Were it not for the incompetence, there might not be a United States today. Pitt’s son later also castigated the ministers. See {641503}.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, critic, and amateur artist. His works include: four novels; epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; and treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour. He is considered to be the greatest German literary figure of the modern era.
