Chinese Proverb Quotes

New York State was so concerned about the separation of church and state that they would not allow any religious cleric or official, to serve in any position of the state militia or government. Delaware had earlier placed the same prohibition against clerics serving in any branch of the government. See {621428} The Bill of Rights did not go that far, but there are a few religions that also support this notion. Perhaps the most dramatic example was Pope John Paul’s prohibition of Priests running for elective office.

1st Baron Verulam. While most agree with the importance of this principle, it is easy to say and very hard to do. Appointing or electing leaders for wartime situations has always been difficult as it involves predicting how people will behave in the future. In WWII for example, many American and German Generals were fired. Adolf Hitler was the classic example of a very popular politician and demagogue who did not have a steady hand but whose maniacal lurches actually weakened the German military effort despite the morale contribution his popularity made.

This may have been one of the most indelicate and insensitive true public statements ever made by a politician. The English population and their political representatives were angry and worried very much that bombing of cities might become a German pattern (which it did.)

West Point to us is a military academy and its benefit to the nation today is military. However, this was not true before the 20th century. The preparation of military officers was always one objective but there was another—much more important. West Point was the premier engineering school until relatively recently. Even as late as 1900 almost ever bridge built in the United States was designed, engineered and the construction was supervised by a graduate of West Point. That is the main reason that Adams was advocating the spending of public money to support the school. Interestingly, the first American Nobel Prize winner was a professor at the U. S. Naval Academy. The Military Academies were major science and engineering incubators and developers up through the First World War.

Most recent American Presidents have appointed their most senior officials who were of their own political party although FDR, Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama appointed members of the opposition party to several important posts. However, in the Soviet Union, the senior officials would appoint no one to even a minor post who they did not perceive was politically reliable—was a dedicated communist and supported the views and programs of the Russian Communist Party leadership. However, rarely in America has there been any criteria of political or ideological doctrine in the hiring of staff. The George W, Bush Administration was a dramatic exception. Being a loyal Republican was totally insufficient. New officials had to be politically and philosophically consonant with the very conservative wing of the Republican party. This was bad enough but by following the same approach as the Russians and other ideological countries, the Bush administration had many of the same problems. One dramatic one was the hiring of people with no professional experience or qualifications but were ideologically perfect and totally loyal. One very dramatic example was the man appointed to head the Federal Emergency Management Administration. His experience consisted of managing horse shows and he had never had anything to do with natural disasters or any other kinds of emergencies nor did he have any experience with first responders. Another is the man appointed to set up the Stock Exchange for Iraq after we occupied that country and were involved in nation building. The appointee’s only job experience had been as a White House intern and not only knew nothing about Stock Exchanges or Economics, but had no business experience as he never held any other job. There were many such examples. No other administration in modern times—Democratic or Republican—went to such lengths as the Soviets to maintain ideological purity.

He lost the vote on this issue, and the Congress created the first committee to investigate and oversee military affairs.

2nd Viscount Melbourne. The pressure for appointments to key positions has always been a problem in modern America. What is surprising in this quotation is that the exact same problems existed in a constitutional monarchy in 19th century England. Note the formality of the form of address in letters to the Queen. Lamb refers to himself in the third person by his aristocratic title, “Lord Melboure”, rather than the first person “I” which would have been too familiar in the address of the monarch. Many English communications with the King or Queen, even in modern times, is this archaic form of address.

This quotation is a wonderful illustration of the change that has taken place in the American military. The young man who was not skilled enough for anything else was meant to be a soldier. By 2010 only one in four high school graduates would be skilled and intelligent to be qualified for the Untied States Navy. The other services also had high requirements in order to function with the high technology, of the modern military.

1st Baron Verulam

This was a best seller when published in China. It is surprising to many that the Chinese censors even allowed it to be published.

Washington and Green won very few battles as the strategy was, like many revolutionary movements, simply to avoid losing and being wiped out—the strategy that finally won the war.

The George W. Bush Administration had gone to war against Iraq for reasons that turned out not to be true, and then after a military victory with few casualties, botched the occupation of the country and a vicious insurgency developed bogging down the nation in its longest war in history. The major burden fell on the armed forces and their families. The hearings were in part examining the Bush Administration policies.

Political ideologues like Abrams distrust and disrespect civil service officials. Abrams and his colleagues are most critical of the civil service’s alleged lack of loyalty to the President. However, he forgets and most people never realize that all Civil Servants when they take their oath of office pledge their loyalty to the Constitution and not to the President. Many of them criticize presidential, political party and ideological loyalists like Abrams because even Abrams and other Presidential appointments swear an oath to the Constitution and not the President or a political party.