“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.”
- John Adams
If one of the founding fathers, and the second president of the United States can make fun of politicians and government institutions like this, then that tells you just how right quote #6 was. In fact, this very topic came up toward the end of that post when I started talking about politicians rather than the government as a whole (this is the follow-up quote I promised).
I love how Mr. Adams addresses the uselessness of three groups of people at once in this quote. The first group, the idlers, are useless and shameful in and of themselves. They are a benefit to nobody and are a burden to society. The next group, lawyers, well… What can I say? They are as political in thought and heart as any politician (many politicians and presidents were once lawyers). Finally, three or more useless men are a congress. If, in John Adam’s eyes, the whole of congress was filled with useless politicians in his day, I suppose we haven’t improved much on the system our founding fathers laid down for us.
I would never want to sit in on a session of congress. I just know I would get annoyed. I’ve dealt with useless men individually, and I’ve dealt with law firms, but I have been lucky enough to stay away from congress thus far and I intend to keep it that way.
