Politics

• “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you!” — Pericles (430 B.C.)
• “The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men.”  (Benjamin Franklin, Miracle at Philadelphia, 126)
• “When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?”  (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1987, 10-11)
• “Critics of American education often point out, quite accurately, that the United States spends more money per pupil than most other developed countries and yet accomplishes less. On the international test most widely administered around the world, the United States ranks at #25, well below countries whose per-pupil spending on education is much lower, such as Hungary (#23), Poland (#21), the Czech Republic (#15) and Finland (#1).7 Finland, incidentally, consistently scores at or near the very top of all of these international rankings. What’s the most distinctive characteristic of public education in Finland? Very simple: Children in Finland don’t begin any formal school until they are seven years old.”  Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Leonard Sax)  Page 20
• “Nevertheless, by the time they’re teenagers, Finnish children are beating American children by large margins on the same test. In the latest round of testing, for example, the average fifteen-year-old in Finland scored 545 in reading; fifteen-year-old American students taking the same examination scored 490. In problem solving, the average Finnish teenager scored 547, while the average American teenager scored a dismal 480.”  Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Leonard Sax)  Page 20
• “Many parents have figured out that the accelerated pace of today’s kindergarten is not a good match for their five-year-old son. Particularly in affluent neighborhoods, it’s become common for parents to enroll their son in kindergarten one year later than the district would normally enroll that child; it’s not unusual to find that half the boys, or more, are enrolled in kindergarten at age six rather than at age five. In low-income neighborhoods—where many working parents simply can’t afford to keep their children home another year—typically fewer than 3 percent of boys will be held back.10 One reason that boys from low-income neighborhoods are doing so much worse in school than boys from more affluent neighborhoods, beginning in early elementary education, may be that the boys from more affluent neighborhoods are starting school at a later age, on average, than the boys from the poor neighborhoods.” Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Leonard Sax)  Page 21
• “When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.”  Stephen Jay Gould, Birth: September 10, 1941- Death: June 20, 2002
• “A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.” G. Gordon Liddy
• “In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.” Voltaire (1764)
• “The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.” Ronald Reagan
• “Handbook 2: Administering the Church states, “In accordance with the laws of their respective governments, members are encouraged to register to vote, to study issues and candidates carefully, and to vote for individuals who they believe will act with integrity and sound judgment. Latter-day Saints have a special obligation to seek out, vote for, and uphold leaders who are honest, good, and wise (see D&C 98:10).”  Religion and Government, Elder Wilford W. Andersen Of the Seventy
• “Vote. Make your choice heard. Don’t threaten anyone. Don’t lose friends. Don’t damage family relationships. Because half the nation, and many people you know and love, may feel and vote differently, it doesn’t make them wrong. It certainly doesn’t make them your enemy.” Gary W. Moore