this film inspired me as an 8th grader that I wanted to be a senator when i "grew up" since then i have lost faith and hope in government until becoming aware of Dr. Ron Paul. Mr. Smith and Dr. Paul have a lot in common. Standing alone on principle and the constitution against greed, graft, and scare tactics. beautiful film.
My mass media instructor showed us this video in class While he was talking about the freedom of speech and the first amendment I liked it, thanks so much for uploading =)
"Liberty is too Precious thing to be buried in books, man should hold them every single day of their lives and say I'am free..to think and to speak" I have a big admiration for this man, he dedicated and sacrificed his life to restore the freedom to think,speak ,and act.He awakened the people about their unexercised right and the political corruption at that time. Most of the democratic and developed countries claim that they have the freedom of speech but its so superficially exercised.
And the corrupt Senator looks like Newt Gingrich. One difference: no true change of heart coming until the Sun expands into a Red Giant and turns the Earth into a cinder (about 5 billion years from now).
@redking123 Actually he reminds me of the democrats in '08, with their demands that the Bills be passed without being read. In the video here when the Senator stands up and says: "This Bill...which must be passed immediately, today!" And now look what we have, a broken economy and a failed Presidency. OK, that's enough, no more politics on this great video.
That part did remind me of Nancy Pelosi's claim that we would know what was in the Bill once we passed it. I would add though that the Democrats are not the only ones to blame, there are few good men in Washington and I think the corruption is what scares so many who would be good off.
@BenjaminWirtz I said no more politics! I'm not mad, I just put ! there for fun. It's true Washington needs to be cleaned up. But people need to remember that the core beliefs of the republicans and the democrats are believed by many Americans, so just to clean it up will not mean that we will not disagree anymore. Some of the things that the democrats believe in make me sick. I'm sure the feeling is mutual, but that does not mean I could not work with them; they are Americans.
Ironic because the Capital Dome is a symbol of the GOVERNMENT, not a symbol of liberty, in fact ,quite the opposite. Also, most of the Capital was built by slaves.
@BigDaddyDJD The Capital Dome is a symbol of "a government of the people, by the people and for the people". The men and women in there are voted into office by the people. If the people do not care enough to vote, or if they do not take part in who runs for office, or if they do not go door to door making sure that people are aware of the issues, then they only have themselves to blame for the shortcomings of the government, there government. But of course, all laws take some liberty away.
@BigDaddyDJD "[people] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted..."
So it can, as shown in one of our founding documents (above), be seen as a symbol of the government that we instituted to secure our liberty. So I do not agree with it being "quite the opposite", as stated in your original comment. Although I do recognize more government = less liberty.
@jbranstetter04 You are right. That is why I want to run for office. I believe in the stuff as described in this film. The constitution makes America great. I would run on the platform on American prosperity and individual liberty. My hopes are for liberty and prosperity of America. So I would legislate based on those principles.
I have failed at everything in the past however. But that wouldn't stop me from trying. I would vote for someone who thinks like you
This movie was so empowering.He fought so hard for what he believed in, for the truth, and was finally rewarded for it--even though he went through shame, humiliation, betrayal, and exhaustion. Wonderful movie!
Great stuff, and Claude Rains doesn't get enough credit for his work in this movie. Watch it closely, and underneath the suavity of the powerful Senator Paine you'll see little cracks gradually widen as Jeff Smith keeps assaulting him with reminders of the man he started out to be. By the end his guilt and hysteria actually make sense, less as a plot convenience than as an inevitable consequence of the loathing he feels for himself.
@LifeIsTheGreatest That line stuck with me too, and that is why I included it in this video. His words spoken in the beginning of my video are the most important ones in my opinion, and that is why I put them at the beginning and at the end.
That may be your opinion. It is not mine. My opinion is "yes and all lighted up like that too" is what is worthy of beginning and end display. Sometimes importance ought to take second place to raw energy. Sometimes. In movies? Often-times.
It cut through the bullshit. The sheer volume of bullshit that is spouted in the world today - it cut through it all. All of it. It sent the sharpest of arrows through all that malarkey and captured the essence of being alive. That is why that line stuck with me.
@LifeIsTheGreatest no i was being sincere, it just made me think why that line stuck to you and I really couldn't wrap my mind around it. I was not being sarcastic at all (:
In that case, it is a mistake on my part. I say sorry.
I am a fan of James Stewart and this movie is a big reason for it. Men, even if fictional, who have integrity and vision - especially when selling out would make life so much easier in the short run - have my respect. Movies are about themes, characters, plots etc. It was a great movie and yeah, this line was a shining example of why. I hope this goes some way to redressing my earlier mistake.
@LifeIsTheGreatest I'm glad that it's ending on a good note. I was worried that I was going to have to delete your comments; if you guys started fighting and calling each other names. I have other videos for that. This one is to be enjoyed and commented on, critically if you feel the need, but no fighting.
On my end, I cannot see how anything good could ever come from insulting people. Even as a child, I never did. You and I disagreed without insults and also without fighting. If I may though, don't you think it is harsh on others if you censor them? Even if the video is your own creation, isn't it harsh? Isn't it especially harsh if the video was not originally created by you? Rhetorical questions + answering is optional.
@LifeIsTheGreatest I most likely have the lowest censoring rate on youtube. Out of the thousands of people commenting on my videos, I've banned only 10 or so, maybe more, but a very small percent. I pretty much only delete comments that threaten lives or that are very disgusting, and I mean really disgusting. I've quite a few Sarah Palin videos, and she is ripped up one side and down the other, but I don't delete them unless they are very sexually explicit. I even allow some spam here and there.
@LifeIsTheGreatest yes, this scene stuck with me as well. It made me realize that as Americans we take our rights and liberties for granted almost every day.
I do not live in the United States of America so I cannot really comment on that. On my end, I value the time that I have in this world. I see it as a world; not 192 members of the General Assembly of the United Nations (though the United Nations is the only organisation with a mission statement I support). It has been of considerable benefit to me to see myself as a citizen of the world rather than a citizen of country x or country y. Those are some of my thoughts. My regards.
@LifeIsTheGreatest Can I but in here? I will anyway. There are nations for a reason. It's because even though we are all humans, we are different people. There are some groups of people who, if given the chance, would kill other groups of people, other nations. It's quite a dream that we can all live in peace together. Maybe some day, but that day is centuries away.
The reason nations exist is because having such artificial constructs serves the interests of politicians and civil servants. This may lead to a long, long discussion but to hell with it, I will go with you all the way. Who else has his/her interests served?
On the question of killing, I see militaries. *Nations* have militaries. They have done most of the killing in human history. Enter nuclear weapons. Peace is a necessity, not a wish for some better world.
@LifeIsTheGreatest This will not lead to a long discussion here on this video. I will respond now, then you will respond one more time, then that will be it. Unless of course you wish to continue the discussion with yourself.
We don't join together in different groups because of "politicians and civil servants", we do it because we are similar. We form social groups to work together. Other groups want what we have, so we war with them. But someday we will all join as one group on this planet.
Well, that is 100% up to you. So long as we are clear that you are the one choosing to stop writing, I am fine with stopping to write.
lol@ "some day". Okay, some eternal and universal interests.
1. Health. Physical, emotional, financial, social, economic, mental, environmental etc. Plus: if others are healthy, I improve my chances of being healthy.
2. Peace. Plus: if others are living in peace, I am able to live in peace.
@Jcolinsol Could you give me some examples to back up your claims? There were no statements by the founding fathers that they "benovlently gave us our liberty," as they themselves wrote that we are blessed with unalienable rights, one of which is liberty. How can you GIVE someone something that is rightfully his?
The ending of this movie is probably how Ron Paul will probably die...passing, while trying to get us all to understand how the Republic is going to be lost. It just about is lost.
seriously, i dont like this type of movies, i just love action/fantasy moviea so before i watched this, i think it'd be soooooooooooo boring.......
My Govt teacher challenged us after watching this to come up to him and without smiling, saying "This movie sucks" if we dont like it so i had thought "challenge accepted"
but then after watching it none of us can do it! this is one of the greatest movies out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Shironkun Some old stuff is good. I used to think the same thing, but when I first saw this movie it opened my eyes a lot to the fact that there is more out there than I knew about. There is a lot to be discovered in history. You cannot read too much history; it is the history of all of us.
@jbranstetter04 old hollywood is so much better than new hollywood. the quality of entertainment today Can't hold a candle to hollywood in the 30s-50s and even someof the 60s
Well put. My daughter is 22 and like many young people is used to today's much more fast paced movies.
Whenever she comes to visit I make her stop and watch at least one old movie. Inevitably she is bored at the beginning but pretty soon she gets drawn into the characters and their lives.
Well that's a right pretty speech from Mr. Actor Stewart. And I almost fell for it, once. But the truth, as I see it, is that this country was stolen from the people the moment that the "founding fathers" (that old body of occultist elites) ratified constitution.
They tell us that they, oh so benevolently, gave us our liberty, when in fact they stole it. It was a simple trick, a bedrock lie that they have built a foundation of lies and an empire of lies on.
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchment or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by moral power." -Alexander Hamilton
The fantasy is that creeps, many in Congress presently, would have a conscience and confess everything in the face of honesty, sincerity, duty, integrity, and political courage.....
How are CHILDREN going to pay something like this back? God in Heaven, how I hate libertarians ...
"Wealthfare -- the money government gives away to corporations and wealthy individuals -- costs us more than $815 billion a year. That's more than four times what we spend on welfare for the poor."
--Mark Zepezauer, from his book, Take the Rich off Welfare
@chrismcdonald16602 so the tea party, which is really just republicans, do some research, is immune to corruption? this speech wasnt about taxing and spending it was about corruption, maybe you should go watch the movie again
@KojachBaumherr na i think you should do some research Jimmy Stewart him self was a big Republican and yes the tea party in a way is and was fighting corruption on a tax level pork barrel spending is one of the most corrupt things in government build dams we don't need in spots they should not be just to make a buck thats what tea party is all about and thats what the movie is all about it don't matter how you shake it republican ooo no i said a dirty word or democrat.
You know corruption can taint even the most pure heart. I really felt sorry for the sentator at the end. When I was young and had seen the movie for the first time I cried because I thought he killed himself. I cried even harder when he rushed in and proclaimed to the whole of the senate His damnation and the whole of the political structure. It was quite sweet and bitter. This movie still is the best Political drama of all time (or at least in my opinion it is).
I am sick of the conservative talking heads blaming those who were laid off for our problems. Calling them non-producers and sponges is ridiculous. These people sought, got, and held jobs but were forced out of them. How are they leeches? They were laid off by the very people who gambled away all their 401Ks in junk investments. Yet those "achievers" are smearing the hardworking people they cut loose, telling them to "get a job" while they freeze hiring and overwork the remaining employees.
I was commenting on the 10 year old congressional pages. By "for the lose" I meant child labor laws were bad, guess you didn't understand my engrish talk.
@ jbranstetter04: Thank you for this post. I think everyone should sit down and watch this and see the message in it. And I whole-heartedly agree with your comments.
Don't worry, times are changing because it's all coming to a boil now. We're soon going to have a total break down of American society where all the bums will be thrown out and the evidence is new groups such as the tea party.
god... what happened to us?... i guess justin bieber abd lady gaga are mpre important ill pick up my niece some books and throw her disney dvds away tomorrow i just cant stand it anymore...
@jcrALLday I agree with you. yeah throw the disney crap away and you are right in America right now lady gaga & justin are more important to our society than pure justice
Remember that this movie was made in 1939, less than one short lifetime ago, by Frank Capra, an immigrant, whos' every work was a wide open love letter to his adopted country. Jefferson Smith is every one of us who've ever believed in this shining gift that's been willed to us, by a cadre of great men who pledged "Our lives, our fortunes, oue sacred honor." Please, my fellow Americans, don't forget this. Don't let it be taken away. FIGHT BACK!
The film doesn't mention political parties but attacks the entire U.S. Senate. The real U.S. Senate hated the movie at the time, as did the Washington press. Hitler banned it in Germany. Jimmy Stewart and the film's director Frank Capra were both Republicans who disliked Roosevelt. The film's writer Sidney Buchman was a member of the American Communist Party. Can you imagine today's Republicans and Communists working together against government corruption? How times have changed.
@TheForwardGaze Buchman told the HUAC that he had been a member of the Communist party in his youth (as did many folks around the same time). I don't know of him being a Communist at the time of Mr. Smith, or during his questioning. Do you have any info on this? It's an interesting topic.
@TheForwardGaze Well, he very definitely WAS a member of the Communist Party at one point, and he DID refuse to "name names" for hearings. I just don't know how far he took his leftism in the Mr. Smith years and beyond. But yeah, he could've been to the left of Abbie Hoffman, for all I know.
@JohnGaltPodcast It's possible that Republicans in the 1930s and '40s were still motivated by their progressive roots. Disliking gov. corruption is pretty bipartisan, but in other movies they made together like You Can't Take It With You and It's A Wonderful Life they dealt with the relationship between the rich, middle class and poor. It's hard to know where Stewart or the others stood on various issues, but those two movies made it pretty obvious they were against the power of extreme wealth.
@TheForwardGaze I'm not sure I can agree with that. In Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, for example, Longfellow Deeds is able to do great things (voluntarily) because of his extreme wealth; the evil characters are the ones who want that wealth for their own greedy purposes. And in both Mr. Smith and Meet John Doe, the problem with Edward Arnold's character (James Taylor and D.B Norton, respectively) is not that he's wealthy, but that he's corrupt and uses populism against the public.
@JohnGaltPodcast I'd say that Mr. Potter was the wealthiest man in town and used the power of his wealth to keep working people impoverished. I haven't seen that movie in years but that's how I remember it. Okay, I'll go with this: These movies involved Joe average little guy speaking truth to power and coming out on top in the end.
@TheForwardGaze Yeah, but there are other wealthy folks in the film who weren't jerks (Sam Wainwright, for example). I agree with your latter point, though, which is one of the reasons I love Capra's films so much.
This is Capra's finest film. It represents what it truly meands to be an American. How sad that so many forget to respect the rights of the people. Hooray for Lost Causes!
"..promote the general welfare.." is in the U.S. Constitution.....if tax-payer funded healthcare is good enough for all Congressman and Senators, both decent and corrupt, its good enough for the rest of the nation....
Of course Trent Lott would make people watch this movie. The Republicans, aside from having a persecution complex, see the world in very simplistic terms. There are good guys and bad guys. But real life isn't so simple. Watch "The Wire" and you'll get a good look at how complicated politics really is. Sometimes good people have to deal with bad people because they're put in impossible situations. As great as this movie is, real life isn't always as black and white as this movie portrays it.
No offense, but it's that mindset that allowed the Bush and Obama administration to erode our personal liberties.
Or to say it another way, "The path to hell is paved with good intentions".
Politics are only "complicated" because politicians only work for themselves. Concepts like truth, freedom, and justice are plain enough for everyone to see and cherish.
Ahh those are nice simplistic mores that we can all embrace. Here's a question for you. I happen to think national health care is a good idea. The republicans think it is a huge boondoggle or socialist or whatever new attack they come up with this week. Does that make me Senator Smith or Senator Paine. We both (presumably) want what's best for the country. We just have different ideas of what that is. But labeling our opponents as "bad" or corrupt is just another way to lower the discourse.
You see the problem with national healthcare is that it gives more control and power to a federal goverment that is perfectly willing to invade soverign countries under the guise of "pre-emptive war" It even condones torture, warrantless wiretapping, and bails out banks with taxpayer money.
The problem I have with national healthcare is that it was simply a carrot placed in front of the public for debate while all those things I just mentioned continue to this day.
Oh Ok very good explanation. Of course I don't agree with any of it. I see healthcare as a right that all people should have, akin to public schooling and access toa fire department/ police dept. The point I'm making is that I'm not corrupt or evil because I support healthcare. I just see the role of gov't differently than you do. But my political opponents (if I had any) sure would try to make me seem evil like Senator Paine. Movies=simple. Real life= not so much.
Ah, now how will all of that wonderful healthcare be paid for when our nation is $14 trillion in debt?
We could borrow for the Chinese and force our grandchildren to pay for our own healthcare. Tax the middle class (many of which are struggling now to make ends meet or are facing foreclosure).
So what your really doing is creating more problems to solve one (and a terrible solution at that).
Ok you're missing the point. My point is that two good, well intentioned people. could take completely opposite sides of an issue without one of them being "good' and the other one being "bad". Unlike this movie where Senator Paine is a bad guy in bed with an evil gangster and Senator Smith is unequivocally right in standing up to the bill.
I don't understand what that means. You believe that one side is good and one side is bad? If so, THAT is the reason the Bush administration was able to push through wiretapping legislation and other laws that suspended our civil liberties. The whole "with us or against us" attitude, and the idea that you are absolutely certain you are right and I am not only wrong but evil leads to those type of idealogues flourishing within the political system.
Washington once stated having political parties would be the death of this country. You prove my point quite clearly.
Was it wrong when Bush pushed through wiretapping legilsation? Certainly. Is it wrong when Obama continues it. Absolutely.
The problem is the "left" won't hold Obama accountable because they want healthcare "reform". So you trade your morals and civil liberties for something you could afford if the Fed didn't inflate the currency paying for wars Obama said he'd end.
I'm not a registered member of any party so I don't see how that proves your point. I do feel that we need a public option. I don't support either of these wars even though I fought in one of them. You assume quite a lot about me. And I criticize Obama all the time. I voted for him but that doesn't mean I agree with him on everything.
I'm not one of these people who thinks the government can't do anything right. They do bad things but they also do good things too. The same government that brought us the red scare, was the same one that brough us the TVA, the GI Bill, Social Security, all of which worked pretty well (at least for a while). I don't share your belief that all government is evil. I think we should demand more of our government, not less.
Goverments can do some things right, but the more power goverment has over the People the more power the individual citizen loses.
The GI Bill only provided the miltiary with more soliders it can toss into this mindless war and then discard them once they are unwilling to serve. Social Security is near bankruptcy and taxing the population to pay for it won't help.
Finally, you can't demand anything of the goverment. It no longer works for you.
Agree to disagree. But I was referring to the GI Bill enacted right after World War II that put millions of veterans through college. And social security worked well for 60 years. With the money they wasted on the war in Iraq they could have underwritten it for the next 40 years, and paid for healthcare.
A right cannot be something that I pay for, for someone to have. A right only allows doors to be opened for you to exercise your right, not for someone else to pay for your right. A right cannot be purchased by one citizen and given to another. You cannot take money from one person and give it to another and then call that a right. I doubt that you understand my position on this because of your liberal mindset, but nonetheless, I have tried my best.
Gee thanks for educating me with your very narrow interpretation of what a right is. What about public education? Do we all have a right to that? Would you want to be the one society without that? How bout a postal service or a military? Both those things are guaranteed in the constitution. Are they rights? They have to be paid somehow. Guess where the money comes from? You assume that because I don't want to return America to the 18th century that I have a liberal mindset.
You do need more education; I will try. Public education is not a right, it is rather something that we have agreed on, that an opportunity for a basic education is a good idea, therefore we all pay for it through our taxes. The post office is a service not a right, and the same with the military. They are both responsibilities of the federal government; therefore they cannot possibly be a right of a person. Only people have rights guaranteed in the constitution.
"A right only allows doors to be opened for you to exercise your right, not for someone else to pay for your right." Um this is called circular logic. You use the word "right" to define the word "right". Go back and re read your high school philosophy book that you left at the last tea party meeting.
Given your definition (which I don't agree with but will use for the sake of argument), no social service is a right. Ok fine. But we still agree that certain social services are "good idea(s)" . So we fund them through our tax dollars. I happen to think health care falls into that category whether you want to call it a right or not. I find it funny that the "hero' of this movie wants to use tax dollars to finance a boyscout jamboree. Glenn Beck would call him socialist
I guess that I will start with your last comment first, which is incorrect, like all of those that proceeded it. "I find it funny that the "hero' of this movie wants to use tax dollars to finance a boyscout jamboree". This money that the Senator is asking for is only a loan. It will be paid back by the children later. I take it that you have not seen the movie or that you have a bad memory.
Now let's get down to the basics. You cannot take $5,000 from me and use it to purchase health insurance for a family, and then call that health insurance a right, the very health insurance that I purchased for them. How anyone could believe that I'm obligated in some way to pay for out of my own pocket the health insurance for some family that I don't even know, and then to call it a right, is beyond me. A right is an opportunity, not something taken from one person and then given to another.
First of all it's "preceeded" not "proceeded". Might want to consult a Strunk and White's or a basic English text book. Second of all, what about the right to an attorney? That's in the bill of rights and it's funded by the taxpayers. What about the right to a fair and speedy trial? Taxpayer funded. You have a limited view of what constitutes a right. Are you saying that all rights are derived from natural rights? What about rights that are conferred on people by society? Do they count too?
On my last comment I was going to suggest that you start picking apart my spelling and grammar because you are losing the argument, but I had no room to do it, and now look, you did it all on you own. Congratulations, you are right on track of ridiculing your opponent instead of presenting logical arguments to backup your pathetic liberal claims. Socialism does not work nor will it ever work. It is a disincentive to work, to produce. It only rewards the non-producers, which destroys the economy.
Now to refute your pathetic argument. Of course the taxpayer pays for your public council in court, just as they pay for the judge, jury, and even the chair that you sit in and the roof on the building too. That is the lamest argument I have heard in a long time. You are now confusing rights and privileges. Rights are natural and are not given to us by government. It is privileges that the government gives to us. It would be a privilege to have the state pay for your health care with my money.
I was wondering how long it would be until someone caught that line, and how nothing has changed in the cesspool called Washington DC. Hurry hurry pass it before it is read and they realize how corrupt this bill is!
"...Let us look no more to an idol's torch, for liberty's light is the Sun! / It's a noble birth to be of this Earth, and our birthright to be free; / I am of this land, but my brother Man has turned it strange to me..."
Trent Lott (on the first day of the Senate) in Jan, would make the Senate watch this film..(and please with partisan attacks, enough out there) THIS IS NOT A PARTISAN issue, it's an American one and either we get this type of true representation back, or we are all in a new land. I for one refuse to give up. Nor should you.
In real life the corrupt Senators like Ted Kennedy get spoken of as heroes and nice guys, in glowing terms despite all the rotten acts they perpetrate in the name of their own greed.
They find out it was a fraud..and his mentor attempts to shoot himself out of shame..he gets the girl, goes back home..and for an instant we hope that the corruption is over..GREAT FILM. An american Classic.
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Actually, Mr. Smith is no better than the corrupt oligarchs he fights in the movie. He wants to tax the American people to build a park in his state, which assuming that he really intends to open it to "every boy in this land" would have require further taxes to transport them there. He doesn't object to legal plunder, he just has a different idea of how to split up the loot. Add his program to every other that government does by robbing taxpayers, and you get what we have today.
You apparently haven't watched the movie closely enough. Smith's plan is for the government to fund the project (a camp, not a park, btw), but THEN the boys of the nation themselves will pay it back (that's why he begins getting tons of small change in the mail from kids when they learn about the project).
Is it an idealistic plan? Sure. Would it work? Maybe not. But he's absolutely NOT advocating the redistribution of wealth (both Jimmy Stewart & Frank Capra were quite conservative, in fact).
@Hawkswish Yeah, that's what I said. The boys would pay back the money that is used to create the camp (and in fact, they start to do so, in the movie, before a single dollar has been spent).
@JohnGaltPodcast They were indeed conservative, but don't kid yourself either. Taylor in the movie stood for big business and the problems with big business running our government, and you know as well as I do, that big business is exactly what Conservatives in this day and age fight for more then anything else. Their whole concept is power to the private sector, and that might have been all good and well before the age of billion dollar lobbyists, but it's a sad state of affairs today.
@AnimeIntroStyles4 Very true. I was a Republican until the late 1990s. I still don't believe big government is the answer to all ills. But I do believe government exists to protect the weak from the strong. Today's GOP doesn't. Conservatives in our day believe in what Jeff Smith called "jungle law," the survival of the fittest. If you're a simple person with no desire to run the world or a sick person who is unable to, you are a parasite as far as today's conservative leaders are concerned.
So according to your logic, any politician who passes a budget bill is corrupt?
How do you expect the US to function without tax revenue? How do you expect your state to function without tax revenue? How do you fund national defense, police, fire departments, or highways?
Clearly you haven't watched this movie, otherwise you would know how he intends to pay for the park.
This is what america is suppose to be...not the bull we get from our elected ppl we have now.....what happened to respresentation for the cause and voices of americans... so many have given to us as a free and a caring american and gaves us laws to protect us all from the liberial we have now...if we as americans dont wake up...we will lose this fight for for all american stands for....SO get off your ass and call...shout if you have to...join the cause..
I just want someone to believe me.
RazzleDazzle2340 3 days ago
The poster of this video should run for office. I want to run for something in 2014
marigolds44 1 week ago
@marigolds44 Why do you say that?
jbranstetter04 1 week ago
very powerful performance by james stewart
1234LETStartAwar 2 weeks ago
this film inspired me as an 8th grader that I wanted to be a senator when i "grew up" since then i have lost faith and hope in government until becoming aware of Dr. Ron Paul. Mr. Smith and Dr. Paul have a lot in common. Standing alone on principle and the constitution against greed, graft, and scare tactics. beautiful film.
turkqb4 3 weeks ago
My mass media instructor showed us this video in class While he was talking about the freedom of speech and the first amendment I liked it, thanks so much for uploading =)
bofhd89o 1 month ago
"Liberty is too Precious thing to be buried in books, man should hold them every single day of their lives and say I'am free..to think and to speak" I have a big admiration for this man, he dedicated and sacrificed his life to restore the freedom to think,speak ,and act.He awakened the people about their unexercised right and the political corruption at that time. Most of the democratic and developed countries claim that they have the freedom of speech but its so superficially exercised.
bofhd89o 1 month ago
And the corrupt Senator looks like Newt Gingrich. One difference: no true change of heart coming until the Sun expands into a Red Giant and turns the Earth into a cinder (about 5 billion years from now).
redking123 1 month ago 3
@redking123 Actually he reminds me of the democrats in '08, with their demands that the Bills be passed without being read. In the video here when the Senator stands up and says: "This Bill...which must be passed immediately, today!" And now look what we have, a broken economy and a failed Presidency. OK, that's enough, no more politics on this great video.
jbranstetter04 1 month ago
@jbranstetter04
That part did remind me of Nancy Pelosi's claim that we would know what was in the Bill once we passed it. I would add though that the Democrats are not the only ones to blame, there are few good men in Washington and I think the corruption is what scares so many who would be good off.
BenjaminWirtz 2 days ago
@BenjaminWirtz I said no more politics! I'm not mad, I just put ! there for fun. It's true Washington needs to be cleaned up. But people need to remember that the core beliefs of the republicans and the democrats are believed by many Americans, so just to clean it up will not mean that we will not disagree anymore. Some of the things that the democrats believe in make me sick. I'm sure the feeling is mutual, but that does not mean I could not work with them; they are Americans.
jbranstetter04 2 days ago
Looks and sounds like Ron Paul. Time to elect the real thing as President. The circus needs a Circus Master.
redking123 1 month ago
Ironic because the Capital Dome is a symbol of the GOVERNMENT, not a symbol of liberty, in fact ,quite the opposite. Also, most of the Capital was built by slaves.
BigDaddyDJD 2 months ago
@BigDaddyDJD The Capital Dome is a symbol of "a government of the people, by the people and for the people". The men and women in there are voted into office by the people. If the people do not care enough to vote, or if they do not take part in who runs for office, or if they do not go door to door making sure that people are aware of the issues, then they only have themselves to blame for the shortcomings of the government, there government. But of course, all laws take some liberty away.
jbranstetter04 2 months ago 2
@jbranstetter04 exactly. It is a symbol of GOVERNMENT. at best, you could argue it is a symbol of democracy. But it is NOT a symbol of liberty.
BigDaddyDJD 2 months ago
@BigDaddyDJD "[people] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted..."
So it can, as shown in one of our founding documents (above), be seen as a symbol of the government that we instituted to secure our liberty. So I do not agree with it being "quite the opposite", as stated in your original comment. Although I do recognize more government = less liberty.
jbranstetter04 2 months ago
@jbranstetter04 You are right. That is why I want to run for office. I believe in the stuff as described in this film. The constitution makes America great. I would run on the platform on American prosperity and individual liberty. My hopes are for liberty and prosperity of America. So I would legislate based on those principles.
I have failed at everything in the past however. But that wouldn't stop me from trying. I would vote for someone who thinks like you
marigolds44 1 week ago
Ron Paul = Mr. Smith
freakylocz14 2 months ago 5
This movie was so empowering.He fought so hard for what he believed in, for the truth, and was finally rewarded for it--even though he went through shame, humiliation, betrayal, and exhaustion. Wonderful movie!
Coyotalia 3 months ago
Paine at least admits hes corrupt beyond repair, unlike our last few presidents, or most of congress.
Domonkoss 4 months ago
Historical note, for anyone who cares...that is the real H.V. Kaltenborn who is doing the news broadcasts.
TheMilitaryHistory 5 months ago
"No sir, I will NOT yield!"
Great stuff, and Claude Rains doesn't get enough credit for his work in this movie. Watch it closely, and underneath the suavity of the powerful Senator Paine you'll see little cracks gradually widen as Jeff Smith keeps assaulting him with reminders of the man he started out to be. By the end his guilt and hysteria actually make sense, less as a plot convenience than as an inevitable consequence of the loathing he feels for himself.
CrankyOldster 5 months ago
MR. RON PAUL GOES TO WASHINGTON!
MrBullfrog9876 5 months ago
If there is one line which has stuck with me in all the movies I have ever seen in my life, it is "and all lighted up like that too!".
LifeIsTheGreatest 5 months ago in playlist Movies
@LifeIsTheGreatest That line stuck with me too, and that is why I included it in this video. His words spoken in the beginning of my video are the most important ones in my opinion, and that is why I put them at the beginning and at the end.
jbranstetter04 5 months ago
@jbranstetter04
That may be your opinion. It is not mine. My opinion is "yes and all lighted up like that too" is what is worthy of beginning and end display. Sometimes importance ought to take second place to raw energy. Sometimes. In movies? Often-times.
Thankyou indeed for posting the video.
LifeIsTheGreatest 5 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest why did that line stick with you?
13LaxDawg 3 months ago
@13LaxDawg
It cut through the bullshit. The sheer volume of bullshit that is spouted in the world today - it cut through it all. All of it. It sent the sharpest of arrows through all that malarkey and captured the essence of being alive. That is why that line stuck with me.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest i sound ignorant..but you got all that from "and all lighted all like that too?"...once again pardon my ignorance x)
13LaxDawg 3 months ago in playlist 13LaxDawg's favorites
@13LaxDawg
The hint of sarcasm is noted.
On my end, I have nothing to hide. It is an opinion. I expressed it.
You may wish to note that you misquoted it as well.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest no i was being sincere, it just made me think why that line stuck to you and I really couldn't wrap my mind around it. I was not being sarcastic at all (:
13LaxDawg 3 months ago
@13LaxDawg
In that case, it is a mistake on my part. I say sorry.
I am a fan of James Stewart and this movie is a big reason for it. Men, even if fictional, who have integrity and vision - especially when selling out would make life so much easier in the short run - have my respect. Movies are about themes, characters, plots etc. It was a great movie and yeah, this line was a shining example of why. I hope this goes some way to redressing my earlier mistake.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest I'm glad that it's ending on a good note. I was worried that I was going to have to delete your comments; if you guys started fighting and calling each other names. I have other videos for that. This one is to be enjoyed and commented on, critically if you feel the need, but no fighting.
jbranstetter04 3 months ago
@jbranstetter04
Both of us are glad it is ending on a good note.
On my end, I cannot see how anything good could ever come from insulting people. Even as a child, I never did. You and I disagreed without insults and also without fighting. If I may though, don't you think it is harsh on others if you censor them? Even if the video is your own creation, isn't it harsh? Isn't it especially harsh if the video was not originally created by you? Rhetorical questions + answering is optional.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest I most likely have the lowest censoring rate on youtube. Out of the thousands of people commenting on my videos, I've banned only 10 or so, maybe more, but a very small percent. I pretty much only delete comments that threaten lives or that are very disgusting, and I mean really disgusting. I've quite a few Sarah Palin videos, and she is ripped up one side and down the other, but I don't delete them unless they are very sexually explicit. I even allow some spam here and there.
jbranstetter04 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest yes, this scene stuck with me as well. It made me realize that as Americans we take our rights and liberties for granted almost every day.
13LaxDawg 3 months ago
@13LaxDawg
I do not live in the United States of America so I cannot really comment on that. On my end, I value the time that I have in this world. I see it as a world; not 192 members of the General Assembly of the United Nations (though the United Nations is the only organisation with a mission statement I support). It has been of considerable benefit to me to see myself as a citizen of the world rather than a citizen of country x or country y. Those are some of my thoughts. My regards.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest Can I but in here? I will anyway. There are nations for a reason. It's because even though we are all humans, we are different people. There are some groups of people who, if given the chance, would kill other groups of people, other nations. It's quite a dream that we can all live in peace together. Maybe some day, but that day is centuries away.
jbranstetter04 3 months ago
@jbranstetter04
The reason nations exist is because having such artificial constructs serves the interests of politicians and civil servants. This may lead to a long, long discussion but to hell with it, I will go with you all the way. Who else has his/her interests served?
On the question of killing, I see militaries. *Nations* have militaries. They have done most of the killing in human history. Enter nuclear weapons. Peace is a necessity, not a wish for some better world.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
@LifeIsTheGreatest This will not lead to a long discussion here on this video. I will respond now, then you will respond one more time, then that will be it. Unless of course you wish to continue the discussion with yourself.
We don't join together in different groups because of "politicians and civil servants", we do it because we are similar. We form social groups to work together. Other groups want what we have, so we war with them. But someday we will all join as one group on this planet.
jbranstetter04 3 months ago
@jbranstetter04
Well, that is 100% up to you. So long as we are clear that you are the one choosing to stop writing, I am fine with stopping to write.
lol@ "some day". Okay, some eternal and universal interests.
1. Health. Physical, emotional, financial, social, economic, mental, environmental etc. Plus: if others are healthy, I improve my chances of being healthy.
2. Peace. Plus: if others are living in peace, I am able to live in peace.
Most common mistake: overthinking it.
LifeIsTheGreatest 3 months ago
This is the best movie of all time according to me. Movies died at 00's with a few exceptions.
Enneb19 5 months ago
correction--benevolently. Early mornings are torture on my spelling ability!
whackybarbiedoll 5 months ago
@Jcolinsol Could you give me some examples to back up your claims? There were no statements by the founding fathers that they "benovlently gave us our liberty," as they themselves wrote that we are blessed with unalienable rights, one of which is liberty. How can you GIVE someone something that is rightfully his?
whackybarbiedoll 5 months ago
6:13 FTW schmoyho
A3ZnBAK 6 months ago
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A3ZnBAK 6 months ago
This movie embodies the American spirit and nobility we celebrate today, alas who knows if we can ever reach our full heights
TheMhabeel 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Loved this movie
ThatBoyTLong 6 months ago
Thanks for this excellently edited version of the scenes at the heart and soul of this great movie. Happy Fourth of July!
SteveBrant55 6 months ago
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This movie was so epic.
darkjediMIK 7 months ago
The ending of this movie is probably how Ron Paul will probably die...passing, while trying to get us all to understand how the Republic is going to be lost. It just about is lost.
dadoody 8 months ago
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dadoody 8 months ago
Jimmy Stewart is a great actor and I will watching this movie tonight for my film class.
bakert7000 8 months ago
seriously, i dont like this type of movies, i just love action/fantasy moviea so before i watched this, i think it'd be soooooooooooo boring.......
My Govt teacher challenged us after watching this to come up to him and without smiling, saying "This movie sucks" if we dont like it so i had thought "challenge accepted"
but then after watching it none of us can do it! this is one of the greatest movies out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shironkun 8 months ago 16
@Shironkun Some old stuff is good. I used to think the same thing, but when I first saw this movie it opened my eyes a lot to the fact that there is more out there than I knew about. There is a lot to be discovered in history. You cannot read too much history; it is the history of all of us.
jbranstetter04 8 months ago 9
@jbranstetter04 old hollywood is so much better than new hollywood. the quality of entertainment today Can't hold a candle to hollywood in the 30s-50s and even someof the 60s
tgltyty 6 months ago 2
@jbranstetter04
Well put. My daughter is 22 and like many young people is used to today's much more fast paced movies.
Whenever she comes to visit I make her stop and watch at least one old movie. Inevitably she is bored at the beginning but pretty soon she gets drawn into the characters and their lives.
But by the end she loves it. Always.
Stannnnnnnnn 4 months ago
@Shironkun My Comp Gov class is doing the same thing right now
emperorx5 8 months ago
Well that's a right pretty speech from Mr. Actor Stewart. And I almost fell for it, once. But the truth, as I see it, is that this country was stolen from the people the moment that the "founding fathers" (that old body of occultist elites) ratified constitution.
They tell us that they, oh so benevolently, gave us our liberty, when in fact they stole it. It was a simple trick, a bedrock lie that they have built a foundation of lies and an empire of lies on.
Jcolinsol 9 months ago
Ron Paul is Mr. Smith...for 30 years. No one has been listening.
Cathyvalaz 9 months ago
@Cathyvalaz well because free press was imprisoned...Dr.Paul was never voiced....nor people.
Only until recently are Americans seeing the results of Free Press...because the FCC...squeezed it dry of freedom...and rehydrated it with subsidies.
As they are doing Now - With even with internet mac Iphone apps...
Try to cut off peoples accord...with the government to which they Pay, to serve justly.
And they hope to make what is private... public, and public... private.
also a marriage of both.
TheAmericanArm 8 months ago
THIS IS HOW FILIBUSTERING SHOULD BE AND USE TO BE!!!!
TheAmericanArm 10 months ago
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datejanoheat 11 months ago
IS THIS MOVIE A SCI-FI...!?
tehuan1 11 months ago
@tehuan1 No.. not at all.
TxRay892 11 months ago
I'M NOT FIT TO BE A SENATOR!!!
If only we would hear those words today from our current congress, or white house.
thisisrumorcontrol 11 months ago 3
Such a great clip, I wish Cheney or Bush or Rummy would have said it at some point though.
TristanH90 11 months ago
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchment or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by moral power." -Alexander Hamilton
MaxAgond 1 year ago 3
Is it too late for Washington to be saved?
FlyingFish112 1 year ago
This is the way a filibuster should be done. Not this "I filibuster and if you want to contact me, I'll be on the links" we have today.
Orlor 1 year ago
The fantasy is that creeps, many in Congress presently, would have a conscience and confess everything in the face of honesty, sincerity, duty, integrity, and political courage.....
MrSunlander 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
How are CHILDREN going to pay something like this back? God in Heaven, how I hate libertarians ...
"Wealthfare -- the money government gives away to corporations and wealthy individuals -- costs us more than $815 billion a year. That's more than four times what we spend on welfare for the poor."
--Mark Zepezauer, from his book, Take the Rich off Welfare
... tell the corporate elite to pay it back!
TheGreenVoter 1 year ago
wonderful story
RedboneLadyT 1 year ago
RIP Mr. Smith
NickyChanSaying 1 year ago
Great movie!!! Watched two years ago in my civics class awesome need more movies like this
Joekid585 1 year ago 4
how about commenting on how this movie is awesome!? Go create your own forum to talk about this stuff...
justincastleman 1 year ago
Amen....let's just watch it to enjoy the movie, and see the great acting Jimmy Stewart and others portray.........Lighten up a little!!!!!!!!!
Pdon0B 1 year ago
We don't have guys in Hollywood like Stewart anymore he was the best
chrismcdonald16602 1 year ago 23
@chrismcdonald16602 we dont have guys in washington like mr smith anymore
KojachBaumherr 9 months ago
@KojachBaumherr na i think if Mr.Smith was alive today he would be a member of the tea party just my feelings
chrismcdonald16602 9 months ago 4
@chrismcdonald16602 so the tea party, which is really just republicans, do some research, is immune to corruption? this speech wasnt about taxing and spending it was about corruption, maybe you should go watch the movie again
KojachBaumherr 9 months ago
@KojachBaumherr na i think you should do some research Jimmy Stewart him self was a big Republican and yes the tea party in a way is and was fighting corruption on a tax level pork barrel spending is one of the most corrupt things in government build dams we don't need in spots they should not be just to make a buck thats what tea party is all about and thats what the movie is all about it don't matter how you shake it republican ooo no i said a dirty word or democrat.
chrismcdonald16602 9 months ago
@chrismcdonald16602 - 100% money is only as good as the principle behind it, and Government is only as good as the people behind it.
TheAmericanArm 9 months ago
@KojachBaumherr The Tea Party are not Republicans or Democrats...the tea party is just people with common sense...Republicans and Democrats are not.
TheAmericanArm 9 months ago
@chrismcdonald16602 You forgot Ron Paul!
MrBullfrog9876 5 months ago
You know corruption can taint even the most pure heart. I really felt sorry for the sentator at the end. When I was young and had seen the movie for the first time I cried because I thought he killed himself. I cried even harder when he rushed in and proclaimed to the whole of the senate His damnation and the whole of the political structure. It was quite sweet and bitter. This movie still is the best Political drama of all time (or at least in my opinion it is).
Divinemartyr 1 year ago 4
I am sick of the conservative talking heads blaming those who were laid off for our problems. Calling them non-producers and sponges is ridiculous. These people sought, got, and held jobs but were forced out of them. How are they leeches? They were laid off by the very people who gambled away all their 401Ks in junk investments. Yet those "achievers" are smearing the hardworking people they cut loose, telling them to "get a job" while they freeze hiring and overwork the remaining employees.
jsharp1701 1 year ago 3
Child labor laws for the lose.
skip8619 1 year ago
@skip8619 the lose what?
FathomLordKarathr 1 year ago
I was commenting on the 10 year old congressional pages. By "for the lose" I meant child labor laws were bad, guess you didn't understand my engrish talk.
skip8619 1 year ago
Hope, faith and charity...a human goal
mcacts1 1 year ago
You Think I'm Licked? Well, IM NOT LICKED!
thisisrumorcontrol 1 year ago 4
@ jbranstetter04: Thank you for this post. I think everyone should sit down and watch this and see the message in it. And I whole-heartedly agree with your comments.
Osirisxero 1 year ago
Are people actually having political debates about this video? Geeze Im watching to just enjoy the video.
superlucci 1 year ago
Don't worry, times are changing because it's all coming to a boil now. We're soon going to have a total break down of American society where all the bums will be thrown out and the evidence is new groups such as the tea party.
steveinusa 1 year ago
god... what happened to us?... i guess justin bieber abd lady gaga are mpre important ill pick up my niece some books and throw her disney dvds away tomorrow i just cant stand it anymore...
jcrALLday 1 year ago
@jcrALLday I agree with you. yeah throw the disney crap away and you are right in America right now lady gaga & justin are more important to our society than pure justice
RedboneLadyT 1 year ago
The guy with the glasses is Harry Reid.
ToxicOdiousOne 1 year ago
Remember that this movie was made in 1939, less than one short lifetime ago, by Frank Capra, an immigrant, whos' every work was a wide open love letter to his adopted country. Jefferson Smith is every one of us who've ever believed in this shining gift that's been willed to us, by a cadre of great men who pledged "Our lives, our fortunes, oue sacred honor." Please, my fellow Americans, don't forget this. Don't let it be taken away. FIGHT BACK!
Norm
theshadow1932 1 year ago 2
@theshadow1932 Amen, Norm.
JohnGaltPodcast 1 year ago
The film doesn't mention political parties but attacks the entire U.S. Senate. The real U.S. Senate hated the movie at the time, as did the Washington press. Hitler banned it in Germany. Jimmy Stewart and the film's director Frank Capra were both Republicans who disliked Roosevelt. The film's writer Sidney Buchman was a member of the American Communist Party. Can you imagine today's Republicans and Communists working together against government corruption? How times have changed.
TheForwardGaze 1 year ago
@TheForwardGaze Buchman told the HUAC that he had been a member of the Communist party in his youth (as did many folks around the same time). I don't know of him being a Communist at the time of Mr. Smith, or during his questioning. Do you have any info on this? It's an interesting topic.
JohnGaltPodcast 1 year ago
@JohnGaltPodcast I think I got that info. from Wikipedia. If he wasn't a Lefty then I guess my thesis is shot all to hell.
TheForwardGaze 1 year ago
@TheForwardGaze Well, he very definitely WAS a member of the Communist Party at one point, and he DID refuse to "name names" for hearings. I just don't know how far he took his leftism in the Mr. Smith years and beyond. But yeah, he could've been to the left of Abbie Hoffman, for all I know.
JohnGaltPodcast 1 year ago
@JohnGaltPodcast It's possible that Republicans in the 1930s and '40s were still motivated by their progressive roots. Disliking gov. corruption is pretty bipartisan, but in other movies they made together like You Can't Take It With You and It's A Wonderful Life they dealt with the relationship between the rich, middle class and poor. It's hard to know where Stewart or the others stood on various issues, but those two movies made it pretty obvious they were against the power of extreme wealth.
TheForwardGaze 1 year ago
@TheForwardGaze I'm not sure I can agree with that. In Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, for example, Longfellow Deeds is able to do great things (voluntarily) because of his extreme wealth; the evil characters are the ones who want that wealth for their own greedy purposes. And in both Mr. Smith and Meet John Doe, the problem with Edward Arnold's character (James Taylor and D.B Norton, respectively) is not that he's wealthy, but that he's corrupt and uses populism against the public.
JohnGaltPodcast 1 year ago
@JohnGaltPodcast I'd say that Mr. Potter was the wealthiest man in town and used the power of his wealth to keep working people impoverished. I haven't seen that movie in years but that's how I remember it. Okay, I'll go with this: These movies involved Joe average little guy speaking truth to power and coming out on top in the end.
TheForwardGaze 1 year ago
@TheForwardGaze Yeah, but there are other wealthy folks in the film who weren't jerks (Sam Wainwright, for example). I agree with your latter point, though, which is one of the reasons I love Capra's films so much.
JohnGaltPodcast 1 year ago
boy thats a real stinker
mropzoom 1 year ago
every man should be like jimmy stewart.....a nice sweet man
SmallvilleTwilight 1 year ago
Mr Smith was a head of his time. We need him NOW.
msamericanpatriot 1 year ago 2
This is one of the best movies ever made
and has a great messege to it. ;)
4thcoming 1 year ago
Thanks FFF for sending this to me.
God bless.
;)
4thcoming 1 year ago
This is Capra's finest film. It represents what it truly meands to be an American. How sad that so many forget to respect the rights of the people. Hooray for Lost Causes!
StarWoid1 1 year ago
How can you say no to James Stewart?
Gettinghitonattheban 1 year ago 2
0:56
destNull 1 year ago
"..promote the general welfare.." is in the U.S. Constitution.....if tax-payer funded healthcare is good enough for all Congressman and Senators, both decent and corrupt, its good enough for the rest of the nation....
jakeelee904 1 year ago
This movie is something that both sides of the political scene can enjoy and learn from.
Instead of arguing, why don't we all just enjoy the clip that was posted?
GroovieBuff 1 year ago 2
exellent movie , all americans should watch it at least once
bobgordo69 1 year ago 15
@bobgordo69 , everyone should :)
pythagoras2010 5 months ago
Liberty is too precious a thing to be lost under a Marxist President.
Liberty is too precious a thing to be lost if one does not have health insurance. Jail time?
Liberty is too precious a thing to be lost to a bunch of liberals that would take our freedoms and flush them down Obama's toilet.
As for me: 'Give me Liberty, or give me Death'.
I will fight to the death against all tyranny, whether it be from a foreign government, a Islamic Terrorist Pig, or our very own Marxist government.
iamzbacku 1 year ago
@iamzbacku Crock of rubbish. Marxist government indeed! Land of the free and home of the brave me arse
321womble 1 year ago
Of course Trent Lott would make people watch this movie. The Republicans, aside from having a persecution complex, see the world in very simplistic terms. There are good guys and bad guys. But real life isn't so simple. Watch "The Wire" and you'll get a good look at how complicated politics really is. Sometimes good people have to deal with bad people because they're put in impossible situations. As great as this movie is, real life isn't always as black and white as this movie portrays it.
italoirish888 2 years ago
No offense, but it's that mindset that allowed the Bush and Obama administration to erode our personal liberties.
Or to say it another way, "The path to hell is paved with good intentions".
Politics are only "complicated" because politicians only work for themselves. Concepts like truth, freedom, and justice are plain enough for everyone to see and cherish.
Kapan60 1 year ago
Ahh those are nice simplistic mores that we can all embrace. Here's a question for you. I happen to think national health care is a good idea. The republicans think it is a huge boondoggle or socialist or whatever new attack they come up with this week. Does that make me Senator Smith or Senator Paine. We both (presumably) want what's best for the country. We just have different ideas of what that is. But labeling our opponents as "bad" or corrupt is just another way to lower the discourse.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Well yes.
You see the problem with national healthcare is that it gives more control and power to a federal goverment that is perfectly willing to invade soverign countries under the guise of "pre-emptive war" It even condones torture, warrantless wiretapping, and bails out banks with taxpayer money.
The problem I have with national healthcare is that it was simply a carrot placed in front of the public for debate while all those things I just mentioned continue to this day.
Kapan60 1 year ago
Oh Ok very good explanation. Of course I don't agree with any of it. I see healthcare as a right that all people should have, akin to public schooling and access toa fire department/ police dept. The point I'm making is that I'm not corrupt or evil because I support healthcare. I just see the role of gov't differently than you do. But my political opponents (if I had any) sure would try to make me seem evil like Senator Paine. Movies=simple. Real life= not so much.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Ah, now how will all of that wonderful healthcare be paid for when our nation is $14 trillion in debt?
We could borrow for the Chinese and force our grandchildren to pay for our own healthcare. Tax the middle class (many of which are struggling now to make ends meet or are facing foreclosure).
So what your really doing is creating more problems to solve one (and a terrible solution at that).
Kapan60 1 year ago
Ok you're missing the point. My point is that two good, well intentioned people. could take completely opposite sides of an issue without one of them being "good' and the other one being "bad". Unlike this movie where Senator Paine is a bad guy in bed with an evil gangster and Senator Smith is unequivocally right in standing up to the bill.
italoirish888 1 year ago
I get what your saying, but in the end I think you're wrong on both points.
Kapan60 1 year ago
I don't understand what that means. You believe that one side is good and one side is bad? If so, THAT is the reason the Bush administration was able to push through wiretapping legislation and other laws that suspended our civil liberties. The whole "with us or against us" attitude, and the idea that you are absolutely certain you are right and I am not only wrong but evil leads to those type of idealogues flourishing within the political system.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Washington once stated having political parties would be the death of this country. You prove my point quite clearly.
Was it wrong when Bush pushed through wiretapping legilsation? Certainly. Is it wrong when Obama continues it. Absolutely.
The problem is the "left" won't hold Obama accountable because they want healthcare "reform". So you trade your morals and civil liberties for something you could afford if the Fed didn't inflate the currency paying for wars Obama said he'd end.
Kapan60 1 year ago
I'm not a registered member of any party so I don't see how that proves your point. I do feel that we need a public option. I don't support either of these wars even though I fought in one of them. You assume quite a lot about me. And I criticize Obama all the time. I voted for him but that doesn't mean I agree with him on everything.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Yet what you asking for is essentially goverment controlled healthcare from the same goverment that gave the world the so-called "War on Terror".
Not to mention the other consequences for this "reform" ethier.
Kapan60 1 year ago
I'm not one of these people who thinks the government can't do anything right. They do bad things but they also do good things too. The same government that brought us the red scare, was the same one that brough us the TVA, the GI Bill, Social Security, all of which worked pretty well (at least for a while). I don't share your belief that all government is evil. I think we should demand more of our government, not less.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Goverments can do some things right, but the more power goverment has over the People the more power the individual citizen loses.
The GI Bill only provided the miltiary with more soliders it can toss into this mindless war and then discard them once they are unwilling to serve. Social Security is near bankruptcy and taxing the population to pay for it won't help.
Finally, you can't demand anything of the goverment. It no longer works for you.
Kapan60 1 year ago 2
Agree to disagree. But I was referring to the GI Bill enacted right after World War II that put millions of veterans through college. And social security worked well for 60 years. With the money they wasted on the war in Iraq they could have underwritten it for the next 40 years, and paid for healthcare.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Of course, but that hasn't happened. So why continue defending something that clearly doesn't work?
The "left" can blame Bush all they want, but they helped to create this mess.
Kapan60 1 year ago
A right cannot be something that I pay for, for someone to have. A right only allows doors to be opened for you to exercise your right, not for someone else to pay for your right. A right cannot be purchased by one citizen and given to another. You cannot take money from one person and give it to another and then call that a right. I doubt that you understand my position on this because of your liberal mindset, but nonetheless, I have tried my best.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago
Gee thanks for educating me with your very narrow interpretation of what a right is. What about public education? Do we all have a right to that? Would you want to be the one society without that? How bout a postal service or a military? Both those things are guaranteed in the constitution. Are they rights? They have to be paid somehow. Guess where the money comes from? You assume that because I don't want to return America to the 18th century that I have a liberal mindset.
italoirish888 1 year ago
You do need more education; I will try. Public education is not a right, it is rather something that we have agreed on, that an opportunity for a basic education is a good idea, therefore we all pay for it through our taxes. The post office is a service not a right, and the same with the military. They are both responsibilities of the federal government; therefore they cannot possibly be a right of a person. Only people have rights guaranteed in the constitution.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago
Examples of rights would be:
The right to travel, but I do not pay for you to do it.
The right to a firearm, but I do not buy one for you.
The right of free speech, but you must do it yourself.
The right to religion, but not supported by taxes.
The right not to testify against yourself; self-explanatory.
The right to pursue your happiness, but not on my dime.
Do you understand now?
A government program cannot be a right.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago
"A right only allows doors to be opened for you to exercise your right, not for someone else to pay for your right." Um this is called circular logic. You use the word "right" to define the word "right". Go back and re read your high school philosophy book that you left at the last tea party meeting.
italoirish888 1 year ago
Given your definition (which I don't agree with but will use for the sake of argument), no social service is a right. Ok fine. But we still agree that certain social services are "good idea(s)" . So we fund them through our tax dollars. I happen to think health care falls into that category whether you want to call it a right or not. I find it funny that the "hero' of this movie wants to use tax dollars to finance a boyscout jamboree. Glenn Beck would call him socialist
italoirish888 1 year ago
I guess that I will start with your last comment first, which is incorrect, like all of those that proceeded it. "I find it funny that the "hero' of this movie wants to use tax dollars to finance a boyscout jamboree". This money that the Senator is asking for is only a loan. It will be paid back by the children later. I take it that you have not seen the movie or that you have a bad memory.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago
Now let's get down to the basics. You cannot take $5,000 from me and use it to purchase health insurance for a family, and then call that health insurance a right, the very health insurance that I purchased for them. How anyone could believe that I'm obligated in some way to pay for out of my own pocket the health insurance for some family that I don't even know, and then to call it a right, is beyond me. A right is an opportunity, not something taken from one person and then given to another.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago
First of all it's "preceeded" not "proceeded". Might want to consult a Strunk and White's or a basic English text book. Second of all, what about the right to an attorney? That's in the bill of rights and it's funded by the taxpayers. What about the right to a fair and speedy trial? Taxpayer funded. You have a limited view of what constitutes a right. Are you saying that all rights are derived from natural rights? What about rights that are conferred on people by society? Do they count too?
italoirish888 1 year ago
On my last comment I was going to suggest that you start picking apart my spelling and grammar because you are losing the argument, but I had no room to do it, and now look, you did it all on you own. Congratulations, you are right on track of ridiculing your opponent instead of presenting logical arguments to backup your pathetic liberal claims. Socialism does not work nor will it ever work. It is a disincentive to work, to produce. It only rewards the non-producers, which destroys the economy.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago
Now to refute your pathetic argument. Of course the taxpayer pays for your public council in court, just as they pay for the judge, jury, and even the chair that you sit in and the roof on the building too. That is the lamest argument I have heard in a long time. You are now confusing rights and privileges. Rights are natural and are not given to us by government. It is privileges that the government gives to us. It would be a privilege to have the state pay for your health care with my money.
jbranstetter04 1 year ago 4
@jbranstetter04 enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.......it is a great movie.....not real life conflicts.
Pdon0B 1 year ago
@jbranstetter04
Wow, you kinda schooled the guy in the debate there Bran... maybe you should of tied half your brain behind your back just to make it fair?
BoyKagome 1 year ago
I was wondering how long it would be until someone caught that line, and how nothing has changed in the cesspool called Washington DC. Hurry hurry pass it before it is read and they realize how corrupt this bill is!
jbranstetter04 2 years ago
"...Let us look no more to an idol's torch, for liberty's light is the Sun! / It's a noble birth to be of this Earth, and our birthright to be free; / I am of this land, but my brother Man has turned it strange to me..."
MyBrotherMan 2 years ago
Trent Lott (on the first day of the Senate) in Jan, would make the Senate watch this film..(and please with partisan attacks, enough out there) THIS IS NOT A PARTISAN issue, it's an American one and either we get this type of true representation back, or we are all in a new land. I for one refuse to give up. Nor should you.
RachTrinity 2 years ago 4
In real life the corrupt Senators like Ted Kennedy get spoken of as heroes and nice guys, in glowing terms despite all the rotten acts they perpetrate in the name of their own greed.
fjccommish 2 years ago 4
Hell, this country would be better off if we have people like Mister Smith in our midst, period.
SaintAmerican 2 years ago
Great speech
vnvfan666 2 years ago 9
what happens after he faints?
solachristos2 2 years ago
he gets carried out and the movie ends.
wcstick 2 years ago
They find out it was a fraud..and his mentor attempts to shoot himself out of shame..he gets the girl, goes back home..and for an instant we hope that the corruption is over..GREAT FILM. An american Classic.
RachTrinity 2 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Actually, Mr. Smith is no better than the corrupt oligarchs he fights in the movie. He wants to tax the American people to build a park in his state, which assuming that he really intends to open it to "every boy in this land" would have require further taxes to transport them there. He doesn't object to legal plunder, he just has a different idea of how to split up the loot. Add his program to every other that government does by robbing taxpayers, and you get what we have today.
skeptics2003 2 years ago
You apparently haven't watched the movie closely enough. Smith's plan is for the government to fund the project (a camp, not a park, btw), but THEN the boys of the nation themselves will pay it back (that's why he begins getting tons of small change in the mail from kids when they learn about the project).
Is it an idealistic plan? Sure. Would it work? Maybe not. But he's absolutely NOT advocating the redistribution of wealth (both Jimmy Stewart & Frank Capra were quite conservative, in fact).
JohnGaltPodcast 2 years ago 34
At most, at least in his mind, it's nothing worse than an interest-free government loan.
I absolutely agree with you about the concept of taxation being robbery, but in this instance, it's misplaced.
JohnGaltPodcast 2 years ago
@JohnGaltPodcast
As a LOAN,
not as a gift by the Taxpayers.
Hawkswish 1 year ago
@Hawkswish Yeah, that's what I said. The boys would pay back the money that is used to create the camp (and in fact, they start to do so, in the movie, before a single dollar has been spent).
JohnGaltPodcast 1 year ago
@JohnGaltPodcast Conservatives were different back then...... some were quite progressive.
MrSunlander 1 year ago
@MrSunlander Liberty is Conservative Fiscally in government, and socially liberal ,as speaking freely, is greatly important and understood
People never understand what is not communicated freely...
Soldiers are rarely allowed to speak freely to commanders...
TheAmericanArm 10 months ago
@JohnGaltPodcast They were indeed conservative, but don't kid yourself either. Taylor in the movie stood for big business and the problems with big business running our government, and you know as well as I do, that big business is exactly what Conservatives in this day and age fight for more then anything else. Their whole concept is power to the private sector, and that might have been all good and well before the age of billion dollar lobbyists, but it's a sad state of affairs today.
AnimeIntroStyles4 9 months ago
@AnimeIntroStyles4 Very true. I was a Republican until the late 1990s. I still don't believe big government is the answer to all ills. But I do believe government exists to protect the weak from the strong. Today's GOP doesn't. Conservatives in our day believe in what Jeff Smith called "jungle law," the survival of the fittest. If you're a simple person with no desire to run the world or a sick person who is unable to, you are a parasite as far as today's conservative leaders are concerned.
jsharp1701 9 months ago
So according to your logic, any politician who passes a budget bill is corrupt?
How do you expect the US to function without tax revenue? How do you expect your state to function without tax revenue? How do you fund national defense, police, fire departments, or highways?
Clearly you haven't watched this movie, otherwise you would know how he intends to pay for the park.
Also, you clearly do not live in the real world.
PocketAces18 2 years ago
This is what america is suppose to be...not the bull we get from our elected ppl we have now.....what happened to respresentation for the cause and voices of americans... so many have given to us as a free and a caring american and gaves us laws to protect us all from the liberial we have now...if we as americans dont wake up...we will lose this fight for for all american stands for....SO get off your ass and call...shout if you have to...join the cause..
barbf0429 2 years ago