Larry McDonald

American politician (1935-1983)

Lawrence Patton McDonald (April 1, 1935 – September 1, 1983) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 until he was killed while a passenger on board Korean Air Lines Flight 007 when it was shot down by Soviet interceptors.

Quotes edit

retrieved August 24, 2009.
  • I personally believe that we don't need a lot more laws, I think we've got far too many laws on the books now, that's part of the problem.... We don't need more government, more laws; we need a lot less. I'm up there [in Washington, D.C.], trying to dismantle a lot of this giant government.... When you 'pass a law' with the current attitude in the Congress what do you get in a law today? You get either more spending, or more taxes, or more controls.... Which do you want? Do you want more spending? I think we've got too much. Do you want more taxes? I think we're taxed too heavily now. Do you want more controls over your life? Does anybody say 'Hey look, I really believe the federal government needs to control me. I want to be a slave. Please tell me how to run every facet of my life.' I don't hear many people saying that. I think most people say 'I think it's time we get the government off our backs, and out of our pockets.[citation needed]
  • The complexity of social organization does not change. Our technologically sophisticated industrial society is more complex than the agrarian society of America in the eighteenth century. In this regard, that was 'a simpler world'. But the complexities of politics (politics here meaning the science of governing) do not change much. The basic political problems confronting the Framers of our Constitution were as complex as our political problems today—perhaps more so, because they were striking off into the dangerous unknown, whereas all we need do is return to the fine highway we were once on.
    • McDonald, Lawrence Patton. We Hold These Truths: A Reverent Review of the U.S. Constitution. Seal Beach, CA: '76 Press, 1976, p. 13.

Quotes about McDonald edit

  • McDonald has fine credentials: a good education, a successful career as a urologist. But his views on issues are so far out, and his political skill so limited, that he has little impact.

External links edit

 
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