"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion... We have had thirteen States independent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half, for each State. What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion?" --Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith, 1787. ME 6:372
"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. ME 6:373, Papers 12:356
Unfortunately, too many people on the right AND left forget that while government is, indeed evil, it is, more than anything else, necessary. When Paine wrote that, it is important to keep in mind that the primary danger for liberty and civil rights was tyranny by the government, perpetuated against its citizenry. Now, however, we face an altogether different set of circumstances under which the most pointed and manifest danger resides in the existence of the immortal corporation, whose structu
Interesting, especially considering I was a die-hard Republican until I actually started comparing the rhetoric of both sides to reality. The problem with your assumption about me being "from the left" is that I don't like the Dems any more than I like Republicans. In fact, I think they are both rotten to the core from corporate largesse. As far as intransigence is concerned, I was unaware that included changing one's mind in the face of undeniable fact.
By the way, as a response to Patty O, I try to vote for someone based on their political views and their record instead of their taste for Texas barbeque (which is wonderful, might I add) or their outdoor activities (not that I liked Reagan, either, but he cut his wood with an axe).
And GemCityJoe... so just because they all lie (which I would submit is a falsehood), that means we should accept it as par for the course and the cost of having "free and open political discourse"? Well, to be fair, I don't know every elected official in Washington, nor do I know any former or current presidents personally. So I don't know if any of them tell the truth, either. My point is, if you're right, and all of the people whom we have seen fit to elect are, in fact, liars, then why do we
Mean-spirited? Wow... I guess you haven't listened to anything Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or G. Gordon Liddy or Jim Quinn (the list goes on and on) have had to say about anything and anyone who doesn't fit into their narrow view of the world. If you haven't, I suggest you start. The shrillness of their attacks, their inability to refrain from ad hominem attacks, or to be inttellectually honest with their arguments is disturbing, not to mention completely inappropriate in most c
From a very early age, I have been pretty conservative. Be it fiscally, politically, environmentally, I have prided myself in not seeking or supporting drastic solutions to problems. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, what I would consider a pretty revolutionary theory has been promoted by a number of our national political and industrial leaders. Actually, the theory has been around much longer than that. Supply side economics originated as the brainchild of the economic theoretician Dr. Ro
I came across Draginol's article regarding the left's blinding hatred of our esteemed President today, and decided that it would be necessary to toss in my two coppers. I'm not really going to address his particular article specifically, as his article was simply the impetus for my considering my dislike for our President. I'd rather begin my stint here as a neophyte blogger as politely as possible. I think a little bit of information about myself will help in putting my opinions in the
I promised myself I wouldn't stoop to such self-adulatory prose as a description of myself. Unfortuately, I have had the nasty habit of breaking promises to myself. At any rate, I have decided to say a little about myself, in case anyone out there on ARPA-Net... oh, sorry... on the web... cares. So without further ado, a wee bit about the author. My name is Dan. I'm 27, soon to be 28, and I am what you might call a lazy workaholic. Perhaps some of this stems from this latent perfectioni
As anyone who knows me will tell you, I happen to be an avid reader. In fact, when I'm not working or trying to stay in shape, you will usually find some sort of print media in my hands, with my nose buried somewhere within its pages. As such, I figured that perhaps if anyone is interested, I will provide an ongoing reading list of books that I either am currently devouring, or have recently digested. Hopefully, this list will provide for the readers out there an insight into who I am, and how I
Having never really read a blog before tonight, nor being that excited about the prospect of a diary, the concept of me starting a blog more or less fell into my lap as I was reading some random article about the joys of blogging. So here I find myself, setting up my first web log. I will use this much as I would assume others out there use theirs: that is, a sounding board for myself. So if you are reading this, I appreciate your time, and hopefully I will be able to submit to you something wor
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