Josh Billings Quotes
Remember the poor, it costs nothing.
Billings, Josh. The Complete Works of Josh Billings. G. W. Carleton & Co., 1876.
This was a swipe at the Conservatives at the time who were opposed to a Federal Government that would actively provide assistance directly to individuals. There was a belief amongst some politicians that by assisting people in need, their character would be weakened and the people and the society would be hurt in the long run.
This quotation is one of the earliest social safety nets. It is also one of the strictures of Jesus, to which most Christian communities have not strongly adhered. It is the religious foundation for welfare.
This statement was the first declaration of a "war on poverty". He never did eliminate poverty, but he did significantly improve conditions in Russia. Wikipedia: "During the first years of his reign, he was both popular and prosperous, and ruled well. He recognized the need for Russia to catch up with the intellectual progress of the West and did his best to bring about educational and social reforms. He was the first tsar to import foreign teachers on a large scale, the first to send young Russians abroad to be educated, and the first to allow Lutheran churches to be built in Russia."
Normally, this would not be a particularly noteworthy quotation. However, at the time the Republican Party had shifted far to the right–more so than at any other time since its inception. The primary election he was in brought out the most right wing members of the party, which was for gutting the social safety net, did not see health care as a right, and even wanted to terminate Obamacare and Social Security as it existed. Yet when asked in a nationwide TV interview, what the government should do for the poor and destitute who could not afford health care or other necessities. His courageous answer and position doomed his bid for the presidential nomination.
This proverb is a succinct statement of one governmental philosophy of coping with poverty and hardship. It is often uttered when compassion takes the form of intangibles, prayer, advice, training, and search for root causes.
Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw . He was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. He is often compared to Mark Twain.
