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"The political philosophy of America's Founding Fathers is so thoroughly buried under decades of statist... " - Ayn Rand

Posted by awebb 10 years ago to Pics
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Quote of the day:

"The political philosophy of America's Founding Fathers is so thoroughly buried under decades of statist misrepresentation on one side and empty lip-service on the other, that it has to be re-discovered, not ritualistically repeated." - Ayn Rand

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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I was merely supporting you in noting that it is not a personal flaw that you can't type on a piano. It doesn't matter whether or not the piano is against the wall.
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    The Constitution was not a reaction to British rule, which was already gone. It was an attempt to formulate a proper national government as a federation of the 13 colonies, each of which already a functioning government. There were political compromises on how to frame the allowed powers and their balance. The fundamentals were already accepted.
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Did the piano version of your typewriter have pedals that worked like mouse clicks?
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I looked into Barton a few years ago when Glenn Beck started pushing him on his previous show on Fox. He was a low level math teacher who jumped into history to push religion. He "finds" religious "sources" and "causes" of the early history of the founding of this country everywhere he looks. A number of the more explicit quotes he attributed to the founding fathers (like the one about the ten commandments) were contrived and Barton had to retract them in a new edition of one of his books when real historians began questioning his sources. He is not credible. You can find better accounts of American history not infected by the progressives.
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    You mean "without" Vanderbilt?

    But the industrial revolution was already well underway by then, and was even earlier in England. It was a result of many individuals operating in freedom under better philosophical conditions across the culture, not any one individual who participated in it.
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  • Posted by XenokRoy 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Agreed, should have listed that one as well. That is like a very abridged version of Making of America. Both excellent.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    The 5000 year leap too. I found it to be logical and profound. Now I see why liberal progressives, whom can not create value and in order to survive have to steel value, would illogically rattle their cages over it.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Where do you hear that about Barton, I know David and his immense collection of personal and official writings of our forefathers...He has Un-revised 'Progressive' history. And you are correct about our founding not being about religion...it was about principles, successful principles...something government and most people have lost...the progressive mindless set was always about making it up as they went along.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    If that is true, why does it look like the constitution is made up of so many compromises so as to make it seem like they could only agree on making it a reaction to english rule
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    The founding principles of the country were much more than a reaction to British rule. It was based on the ideas of reason and individualism in the Enlightenment. There were inconsistencies in government action, but the main insufficiency was in the Enlightenment philosophy itself: Lack of a defense of a morality of individualism with rational self interest, and the failure of the empiricists to defend reason against skepticism. See Leonard Peikoff's book The Ominous Parallels.
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    The political philosophy of the founding the country is not religion. Hillsdale sometimes offers useful history in other respects. Barton is an evangelical historical revisionist.
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    He pleas for proper grammar to be learned and your response includes "One can learn as much as they are willing or able to learn"! :-(

    One can learn what others are able to? 'One' is 'they'?
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    She once said she doesn't like to say "I told you so" because it means it's too late.

    It doesn't stop at having to rediscover the political philosophy of the fournders of the country. How long will it be before people have to rediscover the word "I"? Ayn Rand wrote about that, too -- Anthem.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Assumes that the general populace is either incapable or unwilling to really think about how things will work best. Apart from the intellectual foundations of Objectivism, its also very practical and just works on a day to day level.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Hello term2,
    Yes. Some have forced us down the path of ruin. :(
    "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." John Adams

    Regards,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    We have a democracy now. The mob votes to ignore the consititution whenever it wants.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years ago
    I visited the Thomas Jefferson house in VA a few months ago and watched their videos. I have to say that the intellectual foundation of the constitution is quite incomplete and inconsistent. Its basically a reaction against the english rule, and not a good grounding in individual freedom. Although it separates church and state officially, it was OK to persecute the mormons for polygamy and chase them relentlessly out of the US. It was also ok to have slaves (Jefferson had slaves himself), and it was ok to railroad the Indians from their land. Lots of inconsistencies that have eventually led right up to the present day's socialism. It was a good start, but not grounded in philosophy really.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Hello ewv,
    Thank you very much. I was considering just popping the button off. I get so tired of typing away rapidly only to see a string of caps needing to be deleted and re-typed.
    Regards,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    They can't do it with a computer either. I've seen far too many examples of Duuh and 'huuh including school counselors preparing their scholarship applications because their graduating honor roll seniors can't and won't.

    to make the point the scholarship commitees of the Alumni Association and local clubs like Kiwanis sent back a large percentage stamped Not University level material. The next step was to require a hand written paragraph on the subject of why the applicant should be awarded a scholarship and ended up with a verbal presentation. We were thus able to sift the wheat from the chaff.

    One year we gave out no scholarships and another instituted a second year continuation as a better use of the funds

    Nowadays they just get government loans with a free ride for the females and a signed volunteer for military service form for the males.

    That paper the young men sign at age 18 to get loans and government jobs? No draft or them if Uncle calls. They already volunteered.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Teach better printing, or get voice recognition.

    I don't like cursive, but it is still here, yes. Bummer for me. Cursive is going to die, perhaps bummer for you, if you are still at this in 15 years (I will just be a curmudgeon yelling at kids on my lawn by then).
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  • Posted by Technocracy 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    You really like to label people. Nope, but keep up with your assumptions.

    You may not care for cursive, but it will be with us for some time to come.

    In our business we have to deal with hand written correspondence every day. Delivered by fax or scanned and emailed, but hand written. So much so, that it limits suitability as an employee for someone who cannot read it reasonably well.

    You are right that cursive handwriting is bad and is getting steadily worse. The high tech alternatives are a major driver of that. A skill you don't practice steadily erodes.

    However, it is still too prevalent to either pretend it does not exist, or refuse to teach the skill.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Oh, yeah?
    That's the response one gets when one has won the debate and has the adversary against the wall with no place to go.
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