George F. Kennan Quotes
there is a real question as to whether "bigness" in a body politic is not an evil in itself, quite aside from the policies pursued in its name.
George F. Kennan, 1904-2005, Historian & U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Yugoslavia, Around the Cragged Hill : A Personal and Political Philosophy, 1994
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The discussion was about Ronald Reagan who had always castigated government, but when he became Governor of California and President of the Untied States, he set all records for expanding the size of government and government spending until George W. Bush expanded the government and created a budget deficit even larger than Reagan’s. Bush also constantly denounced big government and even government of any size.
The first Jew to run for the Vice Presidency on a major party ticket.
This quotation not only illustrates the typical Southern attitude at the time as the issue of Slavery began to be the subject of Federal governmental debate, but it also illustrates the incredible party flip flops over time. Ritchie was one of the leading Democratic Politicians of his day, and it was the Democrats who were opposed to Government. However, people without a knowledge of early American History might think that this quotation came from right wing Republicans of the early 21st century. By then, it was the Democrats who saw the important role of government. The Democrats were then extreme enemies of the Federal Government and were against freedom for Blacks and their rights, that the Republican Party was created and used government more than most Americans ever thought possible, ended slavery and permitted Negro voting and equality. Almost 200 years later it was the Democrats who were espousing the old Republican Views, and the Republicans holding the old Democratic view of government and adopting a more passive view on racial equality and justice.
The George W. Bush administration had a strong penchant for loyalty and would not fire Republican officials who had proved incompetent or unethical. In the midst of a disastrous Iraq War, there was a sex scandal in the House of Representatives whereby a Republican member was making homosexual advances to young pages. The House Republican leadership had tried to cover it up rather than protect the pages. Yet no one was fired even after the Congressman resigned and admitted it.
George Frost Kennan was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histories of the relations between the USSR and the United States. He was also one of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men".
