I've been sitting on these quotes for a while, meaning to post them up eventually, because they are both so good. Quotes courtesy of the Patriot Post's Founders Quote Daily:
"It already appears, that there must be in every society of men superiors and inferiors, because God has laid in the constitution and course of nature the foundations of the distinction."
-- John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776)
What do you think would be the reaction to a quote like this today? Would our second President be revered or reviled? I'm guessing he'd be called a hater, racist, nativist, something-ophobe, you get the idea.
And from that "other" Adams comes one of my favorites:
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."
-- Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 November 1775)
Just a day shy of 232 years since, does that sound a little bit like any country you've heard of? If not exactly there yet, getting slowly closer to being described as "easily subdued"?
4 comments:
Mike, good post, and good quotes!
As to the first, it relates to the moderate Muslim thing we're discussiong over at Webster's and elsewhere.
How could a society function properly, or in any way effectively without the distinction between superior and inferior? It's really just not possible to remove the distinction, so what's the point? Moreover, how could the effect of such an attempt be anything resembling good order?
-Terry
Terry,
It boggles the mind. Good conversation over at your place, btw.
-MT
Thanks, Mike. It gets better. Apparently anyone who believes in the concept of superiority is a bigot according to some. Which would mean that everyone is a bigot, right?
Well, no, not the left, come to think of it. The left does not believe in the concept of superiority, except of course, leftist superiority. Which is the only kind of superiority that is acceptable. Everyone else, other than leftists, are bigots.
Leftist elitism knows no bounds.
-TM
thanks for sharing....
___________________
Sharon
Entertainment at one stop
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