The President's Day Project

President's day is about a month away (Feb 18), and what better way to commemorate our supreme statesmen (and politicians) than by collecting their most provocative quotes? Kaligula's remark about the hyper-partisans as the true "right-wing" remnds me of George Washington's warning during his farewell address:

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.
...
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

For all the wisdom of the founders, they must have recognized that their new system was an experiment. It's only future generations, with the benefit of hindsight, that can interpret the results of the experiment and decide whether it is possible for a system to operate in the manner that the founders imagined, and if not, what is the appropriate response.

Washington also warned against "entangling alliances" that would turn the USA towards global military power. This leads nicely into Dwight Eisenhower's farewell speech, in which he warned the people against the influence of the military-industrial complex (video):

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

I faintly remember seeing other good quotes from Presidents, but can't recall them right now (and a quick web search reveals nothing). if you know of any, I would like to collect them here. I think that the best would come from the period after the President held office, adding credibility to any ideas about how the reality of government deviates from our common mythology.

The above quotes reveal that some Presidents were concerned with the potential for corruption and abuse of power, but it could be equally good to get some quotes by Presidents who did not share that concern. For instance, Nixon said "Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal". He justifies this with a Jacksonian explanation of the President's role in the nation.

I recently finished a book on Tyler and found some of his quotes interesting, so I've kept track of them:

"I can, . . . neither look to the right nor the left--my own personal popularity can have no influence over me, when the dictates of my best judgment, and the obligations of an oath, require of me a particular course. Under such circumstances, whether I sink or swim on the tide of popular favor, is to me a matter of inferior consideration." - John Tyler

"[W]hen the happy era shall arrive for the emancipation of nations, hastened on as it will be by the example of America, shall they not resort to the Declaration of our Independence as the charter of their rights, and will not its author be hailed as the benefactor of the redeemed?" - John Tyler

"My imagination has led me to look into the distant future, and there to contemplate the greatness of free America. I have beheld her walking on the waves of the mighty deep, carrying along with her tidings of great joy to distant nations. I have seen her overturning the strong places of despotism, and restoring to man his long-lost rights." - John Tyler

"I would point to a common country, a common glory, and a common destiny. I would exhibit America, at no distant day, as the arbitress of nations, the protectress of liberty. I would have her broad stripes and bright stars to shine over every sea, as a warning to tyrants, that their end was near-and a signal to man, that the day of deliverance was at hand." - John Tyler

Tyler sounds like a neo-con here. Is that your point?

I think that you had previously referred to Tyler as an anti-war President. What's the basis for that? His Wikipedia article says that he pushed forward the colonization of Hawaii and the union with Texas (which would likely lead to war with Mexico).

Tyler, much like the rest of the Democratic tradition from Jefferson through to Bryan, felt like America would operate as an example to the rest of the world. But he was the start of a period in which this belief also turned to outright annexation and expansionism, best demonstrated by Polk. Implicit in Jefferson's original idea of an expanding agrarian republic as a way to avoid the typical decline of republics was an assumption that America would probably have to expand sea to sea, all the way to the Pacific. But even as Tyler began the leg work for Pacific expansion, including in Hawaii, he also tried to slow down actual armed militant actions that could provoke war with Britain. In the situation with Texas I think it's unclear just how much Tyler and others at the time thought annexation could occur without war with Mexico. I think part of the problem is that at the time the idea of an expanding agrarian republic that was an example to the rest of the world in spreading democracy was unclear about just how much it would expand and annex sister republics. That is, could the US serve as an example to the rest of the world and encourage revolutions in Texas, California, Canada, and elsewhere to create sister republics that remain independent, or would the US want to annex/join with these new sister republics eventually.