What is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them
- George Mason
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
- Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria's "On Crimes and Punishment"
The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the Legislature.
- James Madison, writing to Thomas Jefferson
If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religioin into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every state, county, and parish, and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision for the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post roads; in short, everything, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress.
- James Madison
It is working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the states, and the government of all be consolidated into one.
- Thomas Jefferson, on the federal judiciary
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consider that this day ne'er dawns again. ~dante
3 comments:
Yeah, they definitely knew. What have you been reading lately? It almost sounds like you've had your nose in the Federalist papers. I doubt they're teaching this in fifth grade at school. :)
The sad thing is that the mere education of the public on the history of our country will not lead to any real changes. The people today will continue to delude themselves into anarchy. I don't think that it is so much society making mistakes because they forgot history, as much as they are forgetting history because they want to make mistakes (only this time they will work?). I wonder if that makes sense to anyone else?
Actually, most of these quotes were gleaned from the Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, which I was scanning the other day. I have, incidentally, been toying with the idea of reading the Federalist & Anti-federalist Papers...I might try to talk Cami into reading them aloud with me or something (to help with concentration and consistency and things like that).
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What you said makes sense, Luke. People couldn't have really started forgetting history until their worldview had degenerated to the point that they allowed it to be lost, so to some extent at least, willful blindness had to come before uneducated ignorance (though they feed on each other rather viciously thereafter). And so, in order to turn things around, we need not only knowledge, but understanding. I suppose change of some kind could happen without spiritual revival, but it wouldn't last.
I suppose part of it too is that people want to believe in the inherent goodness of man, which would make socialism &c workable; but history forbids such delusions, so it's better off being ignored.
So there you have, in at least twice the words, either a) exactly what you already said, or b) something entirely irrelevant.
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