I think it's best to examine how much of the founding father's work is interpreted in a zeitgeist that no longer applies. The Federalist and especially the Anti-Federalist papers are hardly tomes supporting what we modern Americans would consider civilized behavior. We no longer have government supported slavery. We no longer require property ownership as a condition to vote. We no longer deprive females the right to volte. We no longer allow segregation of public establishments. Jews are no longer deprived of membership in social organizations. The items cited here are but a tiny list of changes brought about by what in modern jargon would call liberal democratic government. And in fact these freedoms would not be in place unless a liberal democratic government, through laws, gave them to the population.
We’ve been chatting for half our lifetimes & I always enjoy it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
>I think it's best to examine how much of the founding father's work is interpreted in a zeitgeist that no longer applies.
[wp] “Zeitgeist,” good German compound word. Literally, TimeGhost, or “spirit of the time” if you prefer. Me? I’m not much into ephemeral spirits.
But you may be making my point in a different way. You’re right about it no longer applying…
>The Federalist and especially the Anti-Federalist papers are hardly tomes supporting what we modern Americans would consider civilized behavior.
[wp] Please note that I didn’t off them as evidence of civilized behavior, only of intense literacy.
>We no longer have government supported slavery. We no longer require property ownership as a condition to vote. We no longer deprive females the right to volte. We no longer allow segregation of public establishments. Jews are no longer deprived of membership in social organizations. The items cited here are but a tiny list of changes brought about by what in modern jargon would call liberal democratic government. And in fact these freedoms would not be in place unless a liberal democratic government, through laws, gave them to the population.
[wp] Thanks for enlarging on my point. As a student of history, you know that that "liberal democratic government," and the laws that you reference, were not some ready-made benevolence that suddenly stepped in and altered the course of American history. Those advances came about, not because of some intrinsic goodness in the evolving establishment, rather were largely the result of an increasingly educated and tolerant populace. They weren’t “given” to the population, they were wrested from the powers that shouldn’t be.
thank you. well said
I think it's best to examine how much of the founding father's work is interpreted in a zeitgeist that no longer applies. The Federalist and especially the Anti-Federalist papers are hardly tomes supporting what we modern Americans would consider civilized behavior. We no longer have government supported slavery. We no longer require property ownership as a condition to vote. We no longer deprive females the right to volte. We no longer allow segregation of public establishments. Jews are no longer deprived of membership in social organizations. The items cited here are but a tiny list of changes brought about by what in modern jargon would call liberal democratic government. And in fact these freedoms would not be in place unless a liberal democratic government, through laws, gave them to the population.
Hi Bob,
We’ve been chatting for half our lifetimes & I always enjoy it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
>I think it's best to examine how much of the founding father's work is interpreted in a zeitgeist that no longer applies.
[wp] “Zeitgeist,” good German compound word. Literally, TimeGhost, or “spirit of the time” if you prefer. Me? I’m not much into ephemeral spirits.
But you may be making my point in a different way. You’re right about it no longer applying…
>The Federalist and especially the Anti-Federalist papers are hardly tomes supporting what we modern Americans would consider civilized behavior.
[wp] Please note that I didn’t off them as evidence of civilized behavior, only of intense literacy.
>We no longer have government supported slavery. We no longer require property ownership as a condition to vote. We no longer deprive females the right to volte. We no longer allow segregation of public establishments. Jews are no longer deprived of membership in social organizations. The items cited here are but a tiny list of changes brought about by what in modern jargon would call liberal democratic government. And in fact these freedoms would not be in place unless a liberal democratic government, through laws, gave them to the population.
[wp] Thanks for enlarging on my point. As a student of history, you know that that "liberal democratic government," and the laws that you reference, were not some ready-made benevolence that suddenly stepped in and altered the course of American history. Those advances came about, not because of some intrinsic goodness in the evolving establishment, rather were largely the result of an increasingly educated and tolerant populace. They weren’t “given” to the population, they were wrested from the powers that shouldn’t be.