Grover Cleveland?

Happily I have friends in high and low places. I celebrate diversity, but not for diversity's sake. Keeps things interesting. One of my more prolific friends sent me a quotation from the late president, Grover Cleveland. Grover Who? That's what my first thought was when I saw the name, but his words were very timely, given today's current events.

Then president Grover Cleveland once vetoed an expenditure that would have provided $10,000 of federal aid to drought-stricken Texas farmers. He explained to congress why such an appropriation of taxpayer money was inappropriate: The quotation was; "I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution; and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadily resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the Government, the Government should not support the people. ... The friendliness and charity of our fellow countrymen can always be relied on to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood." Oh my God....what a great Republican.

Well those of you who can go as far as Wikipedia, like me, will find out that Grover Cleveland was a Democrat, elected during a time of Republican domination in government. In fact, he was considered a classic liberal. Say what? History is full of these what I call American Democrats. They are Democrats that oppose profligate spending by government, inflationary policies, excessive taxation and subsidies. American Democrats believe in the way of our founding fathers and the justness of the American Way.

These characteristics are more commonly attributed to conservative Republicans nowadays, but they are unquestionably American ideals. So what the hell has happened? We have a runaway train for a congress, who thinks there is money in the bank because they still have checks. These same Democratic congressmen and women are in bed with the unions, want to steal from the rich and have no compunction about taxation in the name of "patriotic duty" (thanks to Joe Biden). They will tell you how to dress, how to eat, when to sleep and what to drive. Somewhere along the way the Democrats were corrupted and lost the ideals of Grover Cleveland. Today the Democrats stand for everything Cleveland didn't and so too some of his successors like John F. Kennedy. JFK is rolling in his grave to see how his party has become emasculated and socialist. So when lefties tell you it is the Republicans who have lost the message, tell them this story about Grover Cleveland.

Well hail to the Blue Dogs, the American Democrats. That's what we call them today and they are the only hope we have to stave off the liberal attack against true American ideals. No amount of teleprompting by Obama can change the fact that Americans are waking up to the "change" the really didn't want.