H
Hu_Fan
Guest
I'll start:
“Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a
network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most
energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise but it compresses,
enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing
better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the
shepherd.”
-- Alexis de Tocqueville
From "The Founders and the Classics" by Carl J. Richard... (p. 88-89)
[laying out several examples the Founders were drawing upon from Roman history, in
Chapter 4, "Antimodels"] ... These improbable analogies were not mere rhetorical flourishes.
They represented the genuine fear of tyranny inherent in nearly all classical texts.
Unconstitutional taxes, however small, violated sacred principles of liberty as surely as mass
executions. Indeed, if unchecked, the former would likely eventuate in the latter.
The "slippery slope" was a quintessentially classical idea.
- - -
Hu_Fan writing... On this last quote from the text... The scary part today is how little
many of us realize it is indeed a slippery slope. Carl Richard in his book continually points
out that the Founders very much equated their time to the lessons of history from
two thousand years prior. Yet how many today feel that relationship? At ALL?
How many today feel--instead--insulated and immune to the dear lessons the Founders took
most seriously. For had they not, this Constitutional Republic of a United States
would never have been formed.
From the OSU graduation address, there is nothing to worry about regards tyranny.
'Nothing to see here. Keep moving..' sort of thing.
No slippery slope at all. Not even the tiniest slide...
But the Founders did indeed make much of even the smallest slips. They took no sign
for granted and were ever watchful. Why oh why can't we still be like that today??
The things going on in government today may seem of small consequence to some, but
they are the small beginnings that can evolve into avalanches. If the Founders
were here today they would make Congressman Trey Gowdy sound like a pip-squeak.
Makes you wonder about education for the past one hundred years.
At times, it amounts to little.
“Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a
network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most
energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise but it compresses,
enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing
better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the
shepherd.”
-- Alexis de Tocqueville
From "The Founders and the Classics" by Carl J. Richard... (p. 88-89)
[laying out several examples the Founders were drawing upon from Roman history, in
Chapter 4, "Antimodels"] ... These improbable analogies were not mere rhetorical flourishes.
They represented the genuine fear of tyranny inherent in nearly all classical texts.
Unconstitutional taxes, however small, violated sacred principles of liberty as surely as mass
executions. Indeed, if unchecked, the former would likely eventuate in the latter.
The "slippery slope" was a quintessentially classical idea.
- - -
Hu_Fan writing... On this last quote from the text... The scary part today is how little
many of us realize it is indeed a slippery slope. Carl Richard in his book continually points
out that the Founders very much equated their time to the lessons of history from
two thousand years prior. Yet how many today feel that relationship? At ALL?
How many today feel--instead--insulated and immune to the dear lessons the Founders took
most seriously. For had they not, this Constitutional Republic of a United States
would never have been formed.
From the OSU graduation address, there is nothing to worry about regards tyranny.
'Nothing to see here. Keep moving..' sort of thing.
No slippery slope at all. Not even the tiniest slide...
But the Founders did indeed make much of even the smallest slips. They took no sign
for granted and were ever watchful. Why oh why can't we still be like that today??
The things going on in government today may seem of small consequence to some, but
they are the small beginnings that can evolve into avalanches. If the Founders
were here today they would make Congressman Trey Gowdy sound like a pip-squeak.
Makes you wonder about education for the past one hundred years.
At times, it amounts to little.
