#501: "How Long Doth He Suffer ...?"

Another voice and warning from circa 200 BC - Ancient Americas:

20 O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!

21 Yea, they are as a wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd, and scattereth, and are driven, and are devoured by the beasts of the forest (Book of Mormon | Mosiah 8:20-21).

#500: "Much Should Be Done"

A voice and warning from the dust of circa 400 BC - ancient Anericas:

3 Behold, it is expedient that much should be done among this people, because of the hardness of their hearts, and the deafness of their ears, and the blindness of their minds, and the stiffness of their necks; nevertheless, God is exceedingly merciful unto them, and has not as yet swept them off from the face of the land (Book of Mormon | Jarom 1:3).

#499: “Anything Can Happen”

“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie — a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days — but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”*

___________________________/
*On the subject freedom of press. Source: Interview with French writer Roger Errera, 1974. New York Review of Books. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. (Bold emphasis added.)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

Hannah Arendt ... German: ... 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German-born American political theorist. Her many books and articles have had a lasting influence on political theory and philosophy. Arendt is widely considered one of the most important political thinkers of the 20th century. / Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

#498: The Law of Progress?

“The law of progress holds that everything now must be better than what was there before. Don’t you see if you want something better, and better, and better, you lose the good. The good is no longer even being measured.”*

---------------------------/
*On the subject progress. Source: Interview with French writer Roger Errera, 1974. New York Review of Books. As quo Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

Hannah Arendt ... German: ... 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German-born American political theorist. Her many books and articles have had a lasting influence on political theory and philosophy. Arendt is widely considered one of the most important political thinkers of the 20th century. / Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

# 497: “The Vice of Vices”

“What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.”

-------------------------------/
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (1963), ch. 2.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

Hannah Arendt ... German: ... 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German-born American political theorist. Her many books and articles have had a lasting influence on political theory and philosophy. Arendt is widely considered one of the most important political thinkers of the 20th century. / Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

#496: 1789 Wilberforce Speaks to the MPs of 2025 England

“When we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God? Sir, the nature and all the circumstances of this trade are now laid open to us; we can no longer plead ignorance, we can not evade it; it is now an object placed before us, we can not pass it; we may spurn it, we may kick it out of our way, but we can not turn aside so as to avoid seeing it; for it is bro directly before our eyes that this House must decide, and must justify to all the world, and to their own consciences, the rectitude of the grounds and principles of their decision.”*

----------------------------------/
*"On the Horrors of the Slave Trade", speech delivered in the House of Commons (12 May 1789).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce

#495: “The Final Sin of Man”

“The final sin of man, said Luther truly, is his unwillingness to concede that he is a sinner. The significant contribution of modern culture to this perennial human inclination lies in the number of plausible reasons which it was able to adduce in support of man's good opinion of himself.”*

------------------------------/
*Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr. The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, from the Gifford Lectures, (1941) , vol. 1, p. 121.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr[a] (1892–1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America's leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A public theologian, he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy, with his most influential books including Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man. The latter is ranked number 18 of the top 100 non-fiction books of the twentieth century by Modern Library.[26] Andrew Bacevich labelled Niebuhr's book The Irony of American History "the most important book ever written on U.S. foreign policy."[27] The historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described Niebuhr as "the most influential American theologian of the 20th century"[28][29] and Time posthumously called Niebuhr "the greatest Protestant theologian in America since Jonathan Edwards."[30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr

#494: “The Sinfulness of Power”

In the simple and decadent individualism of the Oxford group movement there is no understanding of the fact that the man of power is always to a certain degree an anti-Christ. "All power," said Lord Acton with cynical realism, "corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely." If the man of power were to take a message of absolute honesty and absolute love seriously he would lose his power, or would divest himself of it. This is not to imply that the world can get along without power and that it is not preferable that men of conscience should wield it rather than scoundrels. But if men of power had not only conscience but also something of the gospel's insight into the intricacies of social sin in the world, they would know that they could never extricate themselves completely from the sinfulness of power, even while they were wielding it ostensibly for the common good.*

------------------------------/
*Christianity and Power Politics (1936) (Chapter 29: "Hitler and Buchman") (Bold emphasis from Wikiquote).)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr[a] (1892–1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America's leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A public theologian, he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy, with his most influential books including Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man. The latter is ranked number 18 of the top 100 non-fiction books of the twentieth century by Modern Library.[26] Andrew Bacevich labelled Niebuhr's book The Irony of American History "the most important book ever written on U.S. foreign policy."[27] The historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described Niebuhr as "the most influential American theologian of the 20th century"[28][29] and Time posthumously called Niebuhr "the greatest Protestant theologian in America since Jonathan Edwards."[30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr

#493: “Man’s Inclination to Injustice”

“Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”*

--------------------------------------/
*Reinhold Niebuhr, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness (1944) https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr[a] (1892–1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America's leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A public theologian, he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy, with his most influential books including Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man. The latter is ranked number 18 of the top 100 non-fiction books of the twentieth century by Modern Library.[26] Andrew Bacevich labelled Niebuhr's book The Irony of American History "the most important book ever written on U.S. foreign policy."[27] The historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described Niebuhr as "the most influential American theologian of the 20th century"[28][29] and Time posthumously called Niebuhr "the greatest Protestant theologian in America since Jonathan Edwards."[30] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr

#492: “Renouncing the Use of Brute Force”

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. It is no mere chance that our older universities developed from clerical schools. Both churches and universities — insofar as they live up to their true function — serve the ennoblement of the individual. They seek to fulfill this great task by spreading moral and cultural understanding, renouncing the use of brute force.

“The essential unity of ecclesiastical and secular institutions was lost during the 19th century, to the point of senseless hostility. Yet there was never any doubt as to the striving for culture. No one doubted the sacredness of the goal. It was the approach that was disputed.”*

---------------------------------------/
* "Moral Decay" (1937); Later published in Out of My Later Years (1950) https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein (Bold emphasis in the original Wikiquote)

Albert Einstein[a] (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical phy.sicist who is widely held as one of the most influential scientists. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics.[1][6] His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation".[7] He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect",[8] a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

#491: “Those Who Look On and Do Nothing”

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

Variation:
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

------------------------------------------/
From Einstein's tribute to Pablo Casals (30 March 1953), in Conversations with Casals (1957), page 11, by Josep Maria Corredor, translated from Conversations avec Pablo Casals : souvenirs et opinions d'un musicien (1955)
• Variant translations or paraphrasing:
   • The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
       ◦ As quoted in The Harper Book of Quotations by Robert I. Fitzhenry (1993), p. 356
   • The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
     ◦ As quoted in Conscious Courage : Turning Everyday Challenges Into Opportunities (2004) by Maureen Stearns, p. 99
   • The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein_and_politics
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

Albert Einstein[a] (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is widely held as one of the most influential scientists. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics.[1][6] His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation".[7] He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect",[8] a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

#490: “What is the Matter With Us?

Why, what is the matter with us? Are we going to palliate and excuse a palpable and flagrant outrage on the right of speech, by implying that only a particular description of persons should exercise that right? Are we, at such a time, when a great principle has been struck down, to quench the moral indignation which the deed excites, by casting reflections upon those on whose persons the outrage has been committed? After all the arguments for liberty to which Boston has listened for more than a quarter of a century, has she yet to learn that the time to assert a right is the time when the right itself is called in question, and that the men of all others to assert it are the men to whom the right has been denied?*

------------------------------------
Frederick Douglass Plea for Free Speech in Boston (8 June 1880)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass (Bold emphasis added.)

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 14, 1818[a] – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He became the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass

#489: “The Dread of Tyrants”

"No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government. Daniel Webster called it a homebred right, a fireside privilege. Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, founded in injustice and wrong, are sure to tremble, if men are allowed to reason of righteousness, temperance, and of a judgment to come in their presence. Slavery cannot tolerate free speech."*

-------------------------/
*Frederick Douglass Plea for Free Speech in Boston (8 June 1880)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 14, 1818[a] – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He became the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass

#488: “Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy”

A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.*

---------------------------------------------
* Letter to W.T. Barry (4 August 1822), in The Writings of James Madison (1910) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 9, p. 103; these words, using the older spelling "Governours", are inscribed to the left of the main entrance, Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Madison

James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751[b] – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, expansionist, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the United States Bill of Rights. He co-wrote The Federalist Papers, co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party, and served as the fifth United States Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison

#487: Dictators: “Afraid of Words and Thoughts”

You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. On all sides they are guarded by masses of armed men, cannons, aeroplanes, fortifications, and the like — they boast and vaunt themselves before the world, yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts; words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home — all the more powerful because forbidden — terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic. They make frantic efforts to bar our thoughts and words; they are afraid of the workings of the human mind. Cannons, airplanes, they can manufacture in large quantities; but how are they to quell the natural promptings of human nature, which after all these centuries of trial and progress has inherited a whole armoury of potent and indestructible knowledge?*

-------------------------------------------
* The Defence of Freedom and Peace (The Lights are Going Out)", radio broadcast to the United States and to London (16 October 1938).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill ... (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (during the Second World War) and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from 1922 to 1924, he was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an adherent to economic liberalism and imperialism, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

#486: “Determined To Be Free”

“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. So we're going to stand up right here amid horses. We're going to stand up right here, in Alabama, amid the billy-clubs. We're going to stand up right here in Alabama amid police dogs, if they have them. We're going to stand up amid tear gas! We're going to stand up amid anything they can muster up, letting the world know that we are determined to be free!”

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Address on Courage, at Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama (8 March 1965)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr. |  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#485: “Worth Dying For”

“Deep down in our nonviolent creed is the conviction that there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they're worth dying for. And if a man happens to be 36 years old, as I happen to be, and some great truth stands before the door of his life, some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right, he's afraid his home will get burned, or he's afraid that he will lose his job, or he's afraid that he will get shot or beat down by state troopers. He may go on and live until he's 80, but he's just as dead at 36 as he would be at 80. And the cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. He died...”

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Address on Courage, at Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama (8 March 1965)
(Bold emphasis added.)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#484: The Prime Question: “Is it Right?”

“Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. I believe today that there is a need for all people of good will to come together with a massive act of conscience and say in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "We ain't goin' study war no more." This is the challenge facing modern man.”

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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.
(Bold emphasis added.)

King often delivered slightly revised versions of his speeches at different venues, and a later variant of this speech, delivered at the Episcopal National Cathedral, Washington D.C. (31 March 1968), though retaining much, contained statements not in the 1965 version.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#483: "Nothing But Free Argument"

In the middle ages of Christianity opposition to the State opinions was hushed. The consequence was, Christianity became loaded with all the Romish follies. Nothing but free argument, raillery & even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion.*

---------------------------------/
* Notes on Religion (October 1776), published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 2, p. 256
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Green Mumford (18 June 1799).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743[a] – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

#482: Ready for Martyrdom?

To preserve the freedom of the human mind then and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will, and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement.*

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*Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Green Mumford (18 June 1799).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson(April 13, 1743[a] – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

#481: “The Lies Will Fall Away” If ...

Ponder: Are there lies that I knowingly support?

Our way must be: Never knowingly support lies! Having understood where the lies begin (and many see this line differently)—step back from that gangrenous edge! Let us not glue back the flaking scales of the Ideology, not gather back its crumbling bones, nor patch together its decomposing garb, and we will be amazed how swiftly and helplessly the lies will fall away, and that which is destined to be naked will be exposed as such to the world.*

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*LIVE NOT BY LIES by ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN
Moscow, 12 February 1974
https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/live-not-by-lies

#480: “The Prerogative and Felicity of Tyranny”

Ponder: How much public mischief and crime are we letting slide?

That Men ought to speak well of their Governours is true, while their Governours, deserve to be well spoken of, but to do publick Mischief, without hearing of it, is only the Prerogative and Felicity of Tyranny: A free People will be shewing that they are so, by their Freedom of Speech.*

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Cato's Letters were essays by British writers, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, first published from 1720 to 1723 under the pseudonym of Cato (95–46 BC), the implacable foe of Julius Caesar and a famously stalwart champion of republican principles (mos maiorum).

The Letters are considered a seminal work in the tradition of the Commonwealth men. The 144 essays were published originally in the London Journal, later in the British Journal, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the British political system and warning against tyrannical rule and abuse of power.

“The Letters were collected and printed as Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious.[1] A measure of their influence is attested by six editions printed by 1755. A generation later their arguments immensely influenced the ideals of the American Revolution. According to Peter Karsten's Patriot-Heroes in England and America, Cato's Letters were the most common holdings on the bookcases of the founding fathers.[2]

“These letters also provided inspiration and ideals for the American Revolutionary generation. The essays were distributed widely across the Thirteen Colonies, and frequently quoted in newspapers from Boston to Savannah, Georgia.[3] Renowned historian Clinton Rossiter stated "no one can spend any time on the newspapers, library inventories, and pamphlets of colonial America without realizing that Cato's Letters rather than John Locke's Civil Government was the most popular, quotable, esteemed source for political ideas in the colonial period.”[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato%27s_Letters

“John Trenchard (1662 – 17 December 1723) was an English writer and Commonwealthman. Trenchard belonged to the same Dorset family as the Secretary of State Sir John Trenchard. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and became a lawyer. From 1722 until his death Trenchard was also a member of Parliament for Taunton. He died on 17 December 1723.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Trenchard_%28writer%29

“Thomas Gordon (c. 1691–28 July 1750) was a Scottish writer and Commonwealthman. Along with John Trenchard, he published The Independent Whig, which was a weekly periodical. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard and Gordon wrote a series of 144 essays entitled Cato's Letters, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the British political system and warning against tyranny.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gordon_(writer)

*Source: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

#479: “Only a Virtuous People”

Ponder: Are we setting ourselves up for masters?

Let me add, that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.*

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* Letter to the Abbés Chalut and Arnaud (17 April 1787) 
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

“Benjamin Franklin (17 January 1706 – 17 April 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the U.S. Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's fire department and the University of Pennsylvania. “Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, first as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies.” https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin | See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

#478: Twain on “Journalism”

Ponder: Is this just another case of “history repeating” in our day? only worse?

"It has become a sarcastic proverb that a thing must be true if you saw it in a newspaper. That is the opinion intelligent people have of that lying vehicle in a nutshell. But the trouble is that the stupid people–who constitute the grand overwhelming majority of this and all other nations–do believe and are moulded and convinced by what they get out of a newspaper, and there is where the harm lies."... "That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse."*

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◦ Mark Twain "License of the Press" speech, 1873
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced,"[2] and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature".[3] His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884),[4] the latter often called "The Great American Novel". |  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain