Ben Linder Quotes
It's a wonderful feeling to work in a country where the government's first concern is for its people, for all its people.
Kruckewitt, Joan. The Death of Ben Linder: The Story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaragua. Seven Stories Press, 1999.
Note that Jefferson felt that governmental powers were limited even without a constitution.
In 1811 Jefferson had a slightly different version: The happiness and prosperity of our citizens is the only legitimate object of government.
This is a very interesting quotation in that right wing parties are usually opposed to any kind of Government ownership and control of business and industry. However, Fascist parties have usually wanted to commandeer business and industry for the central purposes of the dictatorial state. The French National Front Party had its roots in the WWII French Vichy Government—which was allied with the Nazis to bring Fascism and racism to France.
Normally, Molinaro was opposed to State, Federal and Local Government involved with Citizens. Staten Island was a Blue Collar community that prided itself in its rugged individualism. But when there was a problem, Molinaro asked for help and defined government responsibility in terms that would usually be used by left wing democrats. There is nothing like an emergency to motivate politicians to abandon their ideology.
Almost all politicians in the first half of the 20th century argued for more government management to emulate that of businesses in the private sector. Lehman was one of the first modern politicians to advocated not emulating all of the management practices of business.
Benjamin Ernest "Ben" Linder, was an American engineer. While working on a small hydroelectric dam in rural northern Nicaragua, Linder was killed by the Contras, a loose confederation of rebel groups funded by the U.S. government. Coming at a time when U.S. support for the Contras was already highly controversial, Linder's death made front-page headlines around the world and further polarized opinion in the United States.
