« January 11, 2009 - January 17, 2009 | Home | January 25, 2009 - January 31, 2009 »

Week of January 18, 2009 - January 24, 2009

"May Posterity Forget That Ye Were Our Countrymen"


Posted below are a few indications of where the founders and other wise ancestors would be aligned in the question about pursuing Justice for alleged perpetrators of crimes against humanity and violations of our Bill of Rights. It is difficult to imagine expedience or harmony driving their decision, but rather a requirement that we proceed with all diligence in defense of our Liberty itself.

"A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty: and though it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it." -- John Stuart Mill, Representative Government, 1861

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Ben Franklin

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, First Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1953

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams

« January 11, 2009 - January 17, 2009 | Home | January 25, 2009 - January 31, 2009 »

SleepinJeezus

user-pic

Following: 105
Followers: 51

Posts
Comments & Recommends


  • Location Junction of Principles and Opinions, somewhere in Wisconsin
  • Party Democrat
  • Politics Progressive Liberal - Clarence Darrow; Bob LaFollette; Saul Alinsky; FDR New Deal; Henry Wallace; James Groppi; Catonsville 9; Harold Washington; Tip O'Neill; Ann Richards; Studs Terkel; Molly Ivins; Mahatma Ghandi; Mother Jones

Favorites

  • Favorite Blogs www.fightingbob.com
  • Favorite Books The Jungle - Sinclair; Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck; Reveille for Radicals - Alinsky; Darrow for the Defense - Stone; Trout Fishing in America / Revenge of the Lawn - Brautigan;
  • Favorite Quotes

    "Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?" - Old Irish saying

    "Just because that Union Driver is making more money than you doesn't necessarily mean he's overpaid." - My Father, a tavernkeeper, responding to a customer's complaint about a fellow tradesman.

    We Can Be Together - Jefferson Airplane

    Misery's the river of the world - everybody row! Tom Waits

    "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Jonathan Swift

Bio

I slept with the lions

and Marilyn Monroe

had breakfast in the eye

of a hurricane

fought Rocky Marciano,

played Minnesota Fats

burned hundred-dollar bills,

I've eaten Mulligan stew

got drunk with Louis Armstrong

what's that old song?

I taught Mickey Mantle

everything that he knows

All Reader Posts
How to use myTPM

Advertise Liberally
Share
Close Social Web Email

"To" Email Address

Your Name

Your Email Address