President Cleveland and charity

According to the Daily Objectivist,

• In vetoing a bill in 1887 that would have appropriated a mere $10,000 in aid for drought-stricken Texas farmers, Cleveland noted that "though the people support the Government, the Government should not support the people." For relief of citizens in misfortune, the president felt it was important to rely upon "the friendliness and charity of our countrymen."
• That veto was one of many. In fact, Cleveland in his first term refused to sign twice as many bills as did all previous 21 presidents combined. Most of those bills were nothing more than cynical attempts by somebody to get something from somebody else by the force of the government's gun.

Sadly, our federal government has degenerated from the ideas of men like this, Davey Crockett, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison to George Bush who vetoed no bills in 4 years and who has not met a spending bill he couldn't justify or expand.