Political Quotes

“as I rise today, I find myself thinking of the passage with which Hannah Arendt begins her classic work, ``The Origins of Totalitarianism.'' She speaks of the disasters of the First World War, and then the Second World War, and now the prospects of a third, final encounter between the two remaining world powers. She says, ``This moment of anticipation is like the calm that settles after all hopes have died.'' If I sound subdued today, I hope it will be taken in that light, rather than any diminished sense of the importance of what we are about to do, because we are all somehow subdued today. The Senate floor is all but empty. I see four Senators. The lobbies are empty. There is no outcry against what we are doing. Two fine editorials appeared this morning in the Washington Post and the New York Times saying, ``Do not do this.'' But those are rare voices at this moment. We learn in the press that the President is concerned that there be vouchers made available for diapers. This is commendable, but scarcely a suggestion that something fundamental is about to happen. What is about to happen is we are going to repeal title IV-A of the Social Security Act, the provision established in 1935 in the act, aid to families with dependent children. This will be the first time in our history that we have repealed a core provision of the Social Security Act. Further, we are choosing to repeal the provision for children.…”