Milton Friedman, The Economy, & Stock goes up in Old Quotes

If you really need some inspiration, check out this page of quotes by M.W. Hodges of the Grandfather Economic Report. Here's a man who, along with the late great economist Milton Friedman, believes in less government - seriously less government. OK, so I sound like a deep-down conservative. Maybe I am.

One day about 29 years ago my husband and I were driving to Nevada for a trip, and became riveted by a man talking on the radio about the economy, how the government was not living up to the standards set by our founding fathers, how Congressmen were not supposed to be lawyers but most of them are, about how Big Government is encroaching on our freedom. We lost the name of that man, but always wanted to remember who he was. It suddenly dawned on me after reading the Hodges website and subsequently some other memorials that he was Milton Friedman. Not only a great economist, but an eloquent and charismatic one, too.

One particular quote struck me as controversial: "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of USA. These days, "religious people" are considered almost anti-Constitutional. What he must have meant, of course, was not extremist zealots, but people whose faith moderated their behavior, whose belief in a Higher Power coexisted with Higher values. Such people will not engage in petty interpretations and glossover Constitutional spins - hopefully. I don't consider Pat Robertson one of those "moral and religious people". Nor do I consider many of those who play with the word "evil" to be especially "good". But this quote does bring up the possibility of the Constitution needing contributions from the people living under it.

In other words, the Constitution cannot be used like a Ron Popeil oven: "Set it, and forget it."
Most people don't even know exactly what it is. But they know they like it. Because they set their opinions on it, and then they forgot it. EZ Democracy: The spin.