Trego's Mountain Ear

Clint Eastwood has been on the tube or the screen most of my life – from the role of Rowdy Yates on Rawhide to his obituary this weekend.  This week, we will post quotes from Clint, rather than the characters he played:

You, me…we own this country. Politicians are employees of ours….And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

I have a very strict gun control policy: if there’s a gun around, I want to be in control of it.

Always keep your ego in check and not be afraid to listen. Listening is a great art form.

Extremism is so easy. You’ve got your position, and that’s it. It doesn’t take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.

The most gentle people in the world are macho males, people who are confident in their masculinity and have a feeling of well-being in themselves. They don’t have to kick in doors, mistreat women, or make fun of gays.

I’m interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.

I mean, I’ve always been a libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else’s hair.

Michael Moore and I actually have a lot in common. We both appreciate living in a country where there’s free expression. But Michael, if you ever show up at my front door with a camera, I’ll kill you. I mean it.

Abuse of power isn’t limited to ‘bad guys’ in other nations. It happens in our own country. Those in power get jaded, deluded, and seduced by power itself. I have a reverence for individuality. I’ve always considered myself too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing. I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. People should be able to be what they want to be and do what they want – as long as they’re not harming other people. I am a libertarian.

I’m not really conservative. I’m conservative on certain things. I believe in less government. I believe in fiscal responsibility and all those things that maybe Republicans used to believe in but don’t any more.

Over my career I played some badass characters. So, people sometimes think I should have a .44 magnum. But that’s not true, I don’t have that. But I do fire them and I do enjoy target shooting and all that sort of thing. I’m not much of a hunter. I don’t like killing animals, but I love to shoot.

Over the years, I realized there was a Republican philosophy that I liked. And then they lost it. And LIBERTARIANS had more of it. Because what I really believe is, let’s spend a little more time leaving everybody alone.

Am I aging? The pros and the cons? Well, you know a lot more, at least until the time you start forgetting it all. Actually, aging can be a fun process, to some degree.

With people in high office, the old – you go into the extreme, which is absolute power and absolute power corrupts.