John MacDonald Quotes
The old flag. The old policy. The old leader.
At the age of 76, MacDonald was considered too old by many to win another election. He turned the age issue to his favor by wrapping himself in a Canadian Flag and appearing before the crowd.
Campaign Speech, 1891
John A. MacDonald, 1815-1891, First Canadian Prime Minister (Conservative)
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Trump had so much success with the line"make our coutntry great again" that it was picked up by nationalist and fea mongering poilitics in other counties. See Quotation 644086.
In the negotiations the Indian nationalists of the Congress Party did not get everything that they wanted. Rarely does anyone in legitimate negotiations. This was a masterful example of oratory where Nehru wanted to produce the euphoria and historical gravitas that was appropriate when the largest group of people in world history gained self-government and independence. Yet the Congress Party had made promises in the platforms over the years that had not been kept. The partition of the one nation into a Muslim state as well as India denied the Indians of some of their historically and economically most important territories and he had to acknowledge that failure without dampening the public enthusiasm for the great achievement. This was a masterpiece.
The symbolic value attached to the flag in America was surprising for this French observer.
East Pakistan—now Bengladesh—revolted and declared independence. The military cracked down committing atrocities against the rebels who asked India’s help. India intervened and Pakistan declared war on India and then suffered a humiliating defeat. Pakistan was isolated and distraught when Bhutto tried to rally the nation. What was fascinating, that there was very little damage to the non-military infrastructure of Pakistan. Their military bases and many of their major weapons systems and warplanes were destroyed, but in terms of the economy Pakistan was not in any crisis at all. However, Pakistan was and still is a militarily controlled nation where the president and prime minister, when civilians, have little significant power. The Pakistani people have been brainwashed by successive military leaders to believing that they were a superior military power and many of the religious leaders preached that their Islamic faith had to be protected from the Hindu Indians by strength of arms. The crisis was one of confidence and the only reason there was any economic consequence was that Pakistan would use immense sums of public revenue to not only rearm but also develop a nuclear capacity. This was the crisis—Pakistan would be poor for years because of military spending, See {623844} . The loss of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) actually made Pakistan much richer, The per capita earnings of East Pakistan was much lower, and East Pakistan was the most expensive part of the country to support (not counting military expenditures.) Ironically, with a military government paranoid about India with more control and more money, Muslims living in India had more freedom and were economically better off than the Muslims of Pakistan.
Sir John Alexander Macdonald GCB PC QC was the first prime minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891). The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that spanned almost half a century. Macdonald was born in Scotland; when he was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston in the Province of Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario). As a lawyer, he was involved in several high-profile cases and quickly became prominent in Kingston, which elected him in 1844 to the legislature of the Province of Canada. By 1857, he had become premier under the colony's unstable political system.
