Quotes

We celebrate the birth of George Washington on February 22. He was born in 1732. We all know the many stories of Washington, who easily is one of the greatest political figures in world history, if not the single greatest.

But it is his actual words that portray how wonderful he was. He was a leader of men, a philosopher, an observer of human nature, and very witty, in a dry, erudite way. Here are some of his timeless quotes taken, with appreciation, from the website notable-quotes.com, with my comment after each:

“It is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I am guilty of one; nor more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of having committed it.” Comment: Washington knew that willingness to admit one’s fallibility is an essential ingredient for genuine success.

“Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.” Comment: Without conscience, we are but animals.

“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.” Comment: This may appear to be isolationism, but it is more like common sense.

“Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder.” Comment: Washington saw into men's souls. All the way.

“A people... who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything.” Comment: This is true, and an advertisement for the free-market capitalism upon which America was based.

“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.” Comment: How often have we said this without knowing who said it first?

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light.” Comment: This is why so many people are destroyed by seeking to hide or manipulate the truth. Like Al Gore.

“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible…” Comment: Why have we allowed our leaders to ignore this wisdom?

“To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.” Comment: Except to Democrats…

“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy.” Comment: Peace through strength. It is a timeless credo.

“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” Comment: Yes, because people quickly realize that it is the highest state for mankind, and wish to nurture it.

“The cause of our common country calls us both to an active and dangerous duty; Divine Providence, which wisely orders the affairs of men, will enable us to discharge it with fidelity and success.” Comment: Washington truly was a Christian believer in the goodness of God. Don’t ever believe anyone who says otherwise.

“Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” Comment: Is that ever the truth.

“The right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire ... I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound.” Comment: These are the words of a true patriot, soldier and freedom fighter. And cool as a cucumber.

“No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the

United States

. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.” Comment: Again, Washington was a true believer in the divine power of a Supreme Being, and that His hand was essential in creating our great nation.

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” Comment: This is the source of Washington’s greatness – a recognition of the power of government and the fervent desire to restrain it.

“Should the States reject this excellent Constitution, the probability is, an opportunity will never again offer to cancel another in peace—the next will be drawn in blood.” Comment: Washington knew that the establishment of American liberty was perhaps a once-in-history proposition.

“I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.” Comment: This is a brilliant observation about the essence of human nature.

“To form a new government requires infinite care and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid, the superstructure must be bad.” Comment: This is universal, for buildings as well as government. And everything else.

“To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to the din of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill ... makes them timid and ready to fly from their own shadows.” Comment: This is very shrewd and funny and a little demeaning. But hey, it's true.

“Soap is another article in great demand--the Continental allowance is too small, and dear, as every necessary of life is now got, a soldier's pay will not enable him to purchase, by which means his consequent dirtiness adds not a little to the disease of the Army.” Comment: Washington even could talk about the critical nature of soap. What a guy!

“I hate deception, even where the imagination only is concerned.” Comment: This is deep. Very deep. From a deep man.

“Facts may speak for themselves.” Comment: How often have we said this without knowing its origin?

“Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.” Comment: Washington knew well about how humans can influence others.

“The best way to preserve the confidence of the people durably is to promote their true interests.” Comment: This is Politics 101, although many political leaders seem to ignore it.

“It is easy to make acquaintances, but very difficult to shake them off, however irksome and unprofitable they are found, after we have once committed ourselves to them.” Comment: How true.

“Do not conceive that fine clothes make fine men any more than fine feathers make fine birds.” Comment: Hilarious.

“Avoid gaming. This is a vice which is productive of every possible evil; equally injurious to the morals and health of its votaries. It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and father of mischief. It has been the ruin of many worthy families, the loss of many a man's honor, and the cause of Suicide.” Comment: This is brilliant, for all those advocates who think that gambling is a good thing for their states.

“I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one's life, the foundation of happiness or misery.” Comment: Again, very witty, concise and true.

“When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.” Comment: Wisdom for the ages.

"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths….

"A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking…

"In a democracy the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, must be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region.

"We may define a republic to be… a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.

…These excerpts come from The Federalist Papers by James Madison, 4^th president of the

United States

(1809-17). The Papers were a collaboration among Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Madison here explains that “democracy” is not a workable system for a nation because it would require each person to act on each legislation, and that that only works in small, closed systems like town meetings. Obviously, Madison was right.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

...Lincoln's brief speech, commemorating the death and destruction of the Civil War battle at Gettysburg, is considered one of the great moments in American history. The speech received only a smattering of applause, and Lincoln at the time considered it a failure. But it has endured the test of time.

It is a monument to the power of words when the words have meaning. The drawn-out bluster of ten thousand politicians can never match the pointed oratory of a master. Less indeed is more.

"...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.'

"We hold from God the gift which includes all others. The gift is life - physical, intellectual, and moral life.

But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. The process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course.

Life, faculties, production - in other words, individuality, liberty, property - this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.

Life, liberty and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws (for the protection of them) in the first place."

...Bastiat, a French economist who lived 1801-1850, believed in the individualism, self-reliance and private-property rights that have created great societies. In his treatise Harmonies of Political Economy, he reflected the conservative agenda which states that only God has given us our rights and has created the world for man's good, and that government should only assure those rights, and never usurp them.

Modern-day environmentalism and government socialism are two of the usurpers that thinkers like Bastiat warned against. Unless we retain our personal autonomy and private-property rights, he knew, we cannot remain free. And we know that even better today.

An excerpt from John O'Sullivan's essay, Margaret Thatcher: A Legacy of Freedom in the June 2008 edition of Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College, whose website is www.hillsdale.edu

...Even after passing into law, her labor and economic policies had to survive major non-parliamentary challenges from the labor unions, notably the 1984-85 miners strike. This was a hard- fought battle, but it was also a victory for Thatcher as important in domestic politics as the Falklands War was in foreign policy. It removed the last lingering, nervous fear of both the voters and the markets that labor unions could render Britain ungovernable and the elected government impotent. And it weakened the extreme left everywhere, including in the Labour Party, by demonstrating that its trump cards amounted to a busted flush. Though Labor took some years to realize the fact, Thatcher's victory entrenched her economic and labor reforms as the new consensus of British politics.

Once that happened, the British economy began its long boom, combining economic growth with price stability. Loss-making industries were closed down or reduced in size. Manufacturing industries shed labor, often while increasing output, as they restructured to meet foreign competition. New companies or entrepreneurs from academic and non-industrial backgrounds established new industries in the financial services, information and high-tech sectors. Privatization transformed inefficient state-owned industries into dynamic private sector enterprises. New financial instruments allowed entrepreneurs to take over sluggish low-earning companies and put their assets to more profitable uses.

In general, Thatcher's British economy, like Reagan's revived US economy, was characterized by change, profitability, growth, the better allocation of resources (including labor) and the emergence of new industries -- indeed of an entirely new economy -- based on the information revolution.

...Two-thirds of Britain's state-owned industries were sold to the private sector, resulting in more efficient industries and wider capital ownership. Between 1979 (when Thatcher entered office) and 1989, the proportion of the British public owning shares rose from seven percent to fully one-quarter. And more than a million people bought their own homes from often reluctant local authorities.

...Once again, it is proven that capitalism succeeds in bettering the lives of people everywhere that it is tried.

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest; they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto; the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labour out the common period of life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time would urge him to quit his work, and every different want would call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune, would be death; for, though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die.

Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as nothing but Heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other: and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.

Some convenient tree will afford them a State House, under the branches of which the whole Colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man by natural right will have a seat.

But as the Colony encreases, the public concerns will encrease likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue encreasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number: and that the ELECTED might never form to themselves an interest separate from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often: because as the ELECTED might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED.

...Published in 1776, Paine's short treatise was the first to ask for liberty from the British crown. This excerpt begins to show methodically how Paine had documented the 'necessary evil' of government, and warned about its excesses. The entire document can be read at www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/

The full text of the Declaration of Independence is presented here, followed by an essay called “What Is Freedom?”

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

In these trying times, with uncertainty in the air, we Americans should all take a moment this Independence Day to recognize that our troubles are petty compared to the vast sweep of humans in history. From the Israelites’ grueling trek out of the bonds of

Egypt

, to the dreary subsistence lives of most people throughout most of recorded time, we are blessed in our abundance. But that does not stop many of our good citizens from feeling the economic sting, and announcing their pain loudly.

This sting is nothing, dear friends. This is a joyous sting, because we know one thing, that in a free nation with its people empowered one by one, we will set our creative minds to working overtime, and once more start our trip up a bright path to rebirth and renewal. Because under the umbrella of liberty, inventive and innovative people are free to act on their dreams.

Freedom gives "We, the people" the chance, and the right, to throw off the oppressive oligarchic hand on our shoulder, and to banish its spies among us.

The courageous patriots who signed the document above knew well that the nation that they wished to create would never be perfect or equal in material ways, for that is impossible. They also knew that there was no theoretical precedent for the government that they wished to establish. And they too recognized that it would engender a nebulous, untried force called freedom under which all men truly are "created equal". And that is the most vital equality of all.

What is freedom but the route to human happiness. But be not fooled. Happiness is not the goal of freedom. Freedom is. But only liberty can produce happiness of the human heart.

The goal of freedom is to create peace for all men and women, insuring “domestic tranquility” that is not just public, but personal and private too, to elevate their oft-battered souls above the travails of the ages, to offer them hope that they too may someday have economic security, the opportunity to rise above their born station, to be a councilor, a Congressman or even President of the United States without royal blood or a genealogical pedigree. Freedom is the only single way for man to realize his dreams of honor and equity and ultimately love and respect given to, and received from, his fellow man.

Had the above signers on July 4, 1776 faced only the petty distractions that we confront today, they would have laughed and thrown a party. Because in those colonial times, life was harsh, brutal and short. Many of our Founders, and many people in general, were in continuous states of debt because of a perpetually uncertain economy, when one single storm could ruin an entire season's food supply or sink a shipful of goods; when the average lifespan was a mere 35 years; when women routinely died in childbirth; when childhood itself was a hit-or-miss proposition amply evidenced by a survey of colonial graveyard epitaphs; when food often was scarce and frequently tainted; when a simple wound could lead to sickness and death; when the toils of the day were cruel and exhausting and led the people, at times, to hope for the blessing of Heaven over their miserable stay on earth.

No, our problems today are naught. Today we have increasing lifespans, falling infant mortality, conquered diseases, superior food, better shelter, clean water... and more freedom than ever.

Yet despite their hard lives, those Founders and patriots knew that only liberty would truly grant them their God-given rights, and a chance at peace and prosperity as well. Just look at the language they used to describe their powerlessness in the face of a tyrannical British crown:

'He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.'

'He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.'

'He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.'

'In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.'

Stock market down? Hah! These brave souls would snicker at us from the grave for our obsession over our deprivations. In proclaiming themselves liberated, they were offering, and expecting, to die for freedom knowing full well that the armies they faced were superior by factors of ten and hundred, that

Britain

was the most powerful nation on earth.

Because they knew that 50 or 100 or 232 years hence that, with their success, that Americans would live in a safer, better, kinder and freer world. But only if they took on the impossible task implied in the Declaration above. And resting assured that Providence was with them, they recognized their mission as nothing less than God-ly and momentous.

Indeed the men who affixed their signatures to that document were not concerned over trivial matters of commerce. They were unconcerned even with their own mortality, for they knew that on April 19, 1775 that they already had embarked on an effort that would be merciless, frigid in winter, sweltering in summer, painful, violent and sad, and unlike us today with our comparatively inconsequential woes, they understood that they were at a crossroads in time when they alone could set a marker down and change the dismal tide of history. They signed the Declaration so that we someday would have the choice to make of our lives what we wished, not that which would be ordained by some faraway despot. Because prosperity and peace for the many is occasioned only by liberty for all.

'When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…'

What an audacious introduction, the first time in history that a people sought to confront and free themselves from a tyranny in order to establish a true state of freedom and equality.

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'

All men are created equal?! What a revolutionary concept! 232 years ago that is. Today we accept it as a fact of life. But it wasn’t always so. William Paca, Button Gwinnett, and Francis Hopkinson risked their lives to make it so. We must remember that.

'That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.'

Look at the language of change, hope and optimism. Because those today who would deny us freedom use the language of fear and pessimism to undermine us. Which is why we mustn’t allow doubt and distrust to rule.

'The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.'

Timidity and political correctness were not the ways of these courageous souls. They named names!

And what do we owe these signers whose actions could assuredly mark them for death?

We owe them everything. We owe them our gratitude, our happiness, our security and our prosperity in knowing that a rainy day in one nation under God offers us infinitely more opportunity than a millennia of sunshine under a tyrant king.

Because freedom is not, and was not free. Tens of thousands died in that war of liberty, six long years of struggle against an intimidating and superior force. But those patriots of 1776 were not consumed with their own safety and security. They were men of conviction who were concerned about the state of man on earth.

And today, as we walk down supermarket aisles jammed with low-cost food products from all over the world, as we live in spacious houses air conditioned and heated for our comfort, and drive our cars or fly on jetliners for leisurely vacations in lands far and away, we have more material comfort than they ever could have dreamed as they sweat and froze and suffered and died in the trenches of liberty.

Imagine their shock at discovering that someday their fledgling nation would become the freest and richest in the world, setting an example for all. And that to top it off that this same nation would someday rush to the defense of embattled

Britain

itself?

Ultimately, however, after liberating themselves from tyranny imposed from abroad, those Founders and patriots codified in our Constitution that real freedom means freedom from our very own government here at home. This is the message of 1787, that we will build a nation on a unique concept called 'a republic' in which we cast votes in free elections, hold our officials to account, refuse to allow our leaders to limit our speech, take our wealth, restrict our private property rights, or dictate the terms of our commerce. It is not a foreign power that the Constitution girds against. It is the domestic muscle imbedded in a tyrannical government like that from which the revolutionaries separated us.

Freedom means we live free from fear of our own army or police, that no solider may be quartered in our homes without our consent, that we may worship as we wish, and that we may, as individuals, own firearms for self-defense. For the Founders knew that the first act of an oppressor is to disarm the people.

But freedom goes deeper. Not only does liberty encompass those privileges listed in the Bill of Rights – which, by the way, was an afterthought to the Constitution. We must know always that liberty at its heart comes from a God who is patient, generous, loving and good because it is not in man’s nature to grant liberty to his fellow man, but only in God's.

And freedom means, at its core, the right to self defense, to be safe in our persons and in our homes. And this you may think is codified somewhere in our Constitution, but it is decidedly not.

“The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” is only the tip of it. The Natural Law that rules us offers political self defense through a limited tri-partite government against a criminal, an invading army or our own government that wishes to cause us harm -- physical, religious and political -- an to impinge on our pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, liberty is spreading across the globe as never before in history. And it all started on July 4, 1776. By 1783, with the Revolution complete and mighty

Britain

defeated and its own signature affixed to another document -- the Treaty of Paris --

America

was emerging as the first true democracy on earth. Today we have freedom East, West, North and South. And to whom do we the world's people owe the deepest gratitude of our hearts? The kings and dukes of

Britain

? The royals of

Spain

? The Ottoman sultans?

No, friends, it was the unpedigreed rabble listed at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence, and thousands more like them, who sacrificed all for a concept that barely had even been conceived of in all of history, an untried experiment in brotherhood, a laboratory for the elite idea of human equality.

Only God is perfect. And in man’s imperfections, our nation,

America

, represents the best that man can be. And somehow, by Divine Providence, America survived and spread liberty across the oceans. We are the standard-bearer for all of history to judge.

And history will judge us well. The liberty-maintainers among us today are not a people who seek credit for keeping vigil on the miraculous outcome of this noble experiment. And neither were the liberty-seeking Founders and signers above. To humbly and quietly accept the gift of freedom is a trait of those who cherish it. Because they well know that autonomy is its own reward, and no other prize is necessary.

Freedom is an offering from a God from whom we ask no further favor and expect no other indulgence. Freedom is the working of a Heavenly vigor that allows us to make our own way, to succeed or fail not by dint of the wishes of connected kings and zealous governors, but by our own sweat, toil and honorable will. And God’s gift is not given, but offered, and not to the meek, the ignorant or the weak, but to the strong and the vigilant. And the freedom we know, that we celebrate each Independence Day is more than a parade and fireworks and red, white and blue bunting. It is a sensation, a force, a glow for all Americans to savor, and was given by the bravest men in the history, the signers of the document who could only have dreamed in their heart of hearts that July 4 would henceforth come to be celebrated annually as Independence Day.

They knew that they needed to act. Carpe diem... seize the day! They knew that their circumstance was perhaps a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, a volatile mix of fervor and bliss, excitement, opportunity and challenge. And they took it. They were modest and smart, serious and driven, the kind of men who put duty and honor before self, preparing finally to unlock the fetid vault of history and to release its prisoners into the light. Their intuitions were those of scholars and statesmen who had studied history, art, philosophy and science, and who knew full well that the time was nigh for a revolutionary act that would shake the world to its fiery core.

Will we Americans survive our current woes? Unequivocally yes, because we are a nation founded by men and women of vision and courage. We never will accede to uncertainty, doubt or anger. Defeat is unthinkable. We can and will face our challenges with the same valor that our Founders exhibited. Except that theirs was infinitely more solemn and sober.

Those brave souls who signed that Declaration, men of foresight and vision, some certainly more famous than others, never will be forgotten.

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

Conservatives embrace the Commandments as the basis for a civilized society. Liberals wish to have the Commandments expelled from public view because they do not believe in God, nor in the order and propriety that the Commandments engender.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

A little neglect may breed mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone.

"Holy Father, Laura and I are privileged to have you here at the White House. We welcome you with the ancient words commended by St. Augustine: Pax tecum; peace be with you.

You've chosen to visit

America

on your birthday. Well, birthdays are traditionally spent with close friends, so our entire nation is moved and honored that you have decided to share this special day with us. We wish you much health and happiness today and for many years to come.

This is your first trip to the

United States

since you ascended to the chair of St. Peter. You will visit two of our greatest cities and meet countless Americans, including many who have traveled from across the country to see with you and to share in the joy of this visit.

Here in

America

you'll find a nation of prayer. Each day, millions of our citizens approach our maker on bended knee, seeking his grace and giving thanks for the many blessings he bestows upon us.

Millions of Americans have been praying for your visit. And millions look forward to praying with you this week.

Here in

America

you'll find a nation of compassion. Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. So each day citizens across

America

answer the universal call to feed the hungry and comfort the sick and care for the infirm.

Each day, across the world, the

United States

is working to eradicate disease, alleviate poverty, promote peace and bring the light of hope to places still mired in the darkness of tyranny and despair.

Here in

America

, you'll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square. When our founders declared our nation's independence, they rested their case on an appeal to the laws of nature and of nature's god.

We believe in religious liberty. We also believe that a love for freedom and a common moral law are written into every human heart, and that these constitute the firm foundation on which any successful free society must be built.

Here in

America

, you'll find a nation that is fully modern, yet guided by ancient and eternal truths.

The

United States

is the most innovative, creative and dynamic country on Earth. It is also among the most religious.

In our nation, faith and reason coexist in harmony. This is one of our country's greatest strengths and one of the reasons that our land remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for millions across the world.

Most of all, Holy Father, you will find in

America

people whose hearts are open to your message of hope. And

America

and the world need this message.

In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that God is love. And embracing this love is the surest way to save men from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism.

In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed...

And your message that each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary.

In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this dictatorship of relativism and embrace a culture of justice and truth.

In a world where some see freedom as simply the right to do as they wish, we need your message that true liberty requires us to live our freedom not just for ourselves, but in a spirit of mutual support.

Holy Father, thank you for making this journey to

America

. Our nation welcomes you. We appreciate the example you set for the world. And we ask that you always keep us in your prayers."

"Mr. President, thank you for your gracious words of welcome on behalf of the people of the United States of America.

I deeply appreciate your invitation to visit this great country. My visit coincides with an important moment in the life of the Catholic community in

America

: the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the elevation of the country's first diocese, Baltimore, to a metropolitan archdiocese and the establishment of the dioceses of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville.

Yet I am happy to be here as a guest of all Americans. I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel, and one with great respect for this vast, pluralistic society.

America

's Catholics have made and continue to make an excellent contribution to the life of their country.

As I begin my visit I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the church in the

United States

and strengthens the resolve of Catholics to contribute even more responsibly to the life of this nation of which they are proud to be citizens.

From the dawn of the republic,

America

's quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator.

The framers of this nation's founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the self-evident truth that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature's god.

The calls... of

America

's history demonstrate the difficulties, the struggles and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society which faithfully embodied these novel principles. In this process, which forces... all of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as, for example, in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement.

In our time, too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength in a commitment to this patrimony of shared ideas and inspirations.

In the next few days, I look forward to meeting not only with

America

's Catholic community but with other Christian communities and representatives of the many religious traditions present in this country.

Historically, not only Catholics, but all believers have found here the freedom to worship God in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, while at the same time being accepted as part of a commonwealth in which each individual and group can make its voice heard.

As the nation faces increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I'm confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more human and free society.

Freedom is not only a gift but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience. Almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self- discipline, sacrifice for the common good, and a sense of responsibility toward the less fortunate.

It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one's deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate.

In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be (inaudible) for the cause of good.

Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native

Poland

and in Eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows time and again, I quote, "that in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul."

These prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington expressed in his farewell address: "Religion and morality represent indispensable supports of political prosperity."

The church, for her part, wishes to contribute to building a world in the model... human person created in the image and likeness of God. She's convinced that faith sheds new light on all things and that the Gospel reveals... destiny... of every men and women.

Faith also gives us the strength to respond to our high calling and the hope that inspires us to work for an ever more just and fraternal society.

Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation.

For over a century, the

United States of America

has played an important role in the international community. On Friday, God willing, I will have the honor of addressing the United Nations organization, where I hope to anchor their efforts under way to make that institution an ever more effective voice for the legitimate aspirations of all the world's peoples.

On this, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever, if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity as brothers and sisters, dwelling in the same house and around the set table which God's bounty has set for all his children.

America

has traditionally shown herself generous in meeting immediate human needs, fostering development, and offering relief to the victims of natural catastrophes. I am confident that this concern for the greater human family will continue to find expression and support for the patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts and promote progress.

In this way, coming generations will be able to live in a world where truth, freedom and justice can flourish, a world where the God- given dignity and the rights of every man, woman and child are cherished, protected and effectively advanced.

Mr. President, dear friends, as I begin my visit to the United States, I express once more my gratitude for invitation, my joy to be in your midst, and my fervent prayers that Almighty God will confirm this nation and this people in the ways of justice, prosperity and peace.

...These are beautiful speeches. The Holy Father's references to the Founding Fathers are inspirational and touching.

"True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrong-doing by its prohibitions. And it does not lay its commands or prohibitions upon good men in vain, though neither have any effect on the wicked. It is a sin to try to to [sic] alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is commonly considered punishment."

…Cicero (106-43 BC), the Roman orator, politician and philosopher, was one of the early proponents of the idea of Natural Law, and here explains that it is eternal and ageless, that law is law, and that all the best men and best societies conduct themselves under this code. The idea that God gives to man this law reflects the notion that true law agrees not with any whim or fashion of leaders, but with the undying and unwavering guidance from a Supreme Being who is universal, giving and forgiving.

"Once upon a time all the animals in the zoo decided that they would disarm, and they arranged to have a conference to arrange the matter. So the Rhinoceros said when he opened the proceedings that the use of teeth was barbarous and horrible and ought to be strictly prohibited by general consent. Horns, which were mainly defensive weapons, would, of course, have to be allowed. The Buffalo, the Stag, the Porcupine, and even the little Hedgehog all said they would vote with the Rhino, but the Lion and Tiger took a different view. They defended teeth and even claws, which they described as honourable weapons of immemorial antiquity. The Panther, the Leopard, the Puma, and the whole tribe of small cats all supported the Lion and the Tiger. Then the Bear spoke. He proposed that both teeth and horns should be banned and never used again for fighting by any animal. It would be quite enough if animals were allowed to give each other a good hug when they quarreled. No one could object to that. It was so fraternal, and that would be a great step towards peace. However, all the other animals were very offended with the Bear, and the

Turkey

fell into a perfect panic.

"The discussion got so hot and angry, and all those animals began thinking so much about horns and teeth and hugging when they argued about the peaceful intentions that had brought them together that they began to look at one another in a very nasty way. Luckily the keepers were able to calm them down and persuade them to go back quietly to their cages, and they began to feel quiet friendly with one another again."

…Sir Winston (1874-1965) included this fable in a speech in Aldersbrook

England

in 1928 when he was British chancellor of the exchequer. It obviously speaks for itself, that disarmament always sound like a noble idea until negotiations commence and self-interest takes root.

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages."

…Adam Smith (1723-1790), a Scottish economist and author of the landmark book The Wealth of Nations, here describes to us in a few words how the capitalist system works and why it best serves the majority. Capitalism ultimately is built not on the whims, desires or needs of the consumer or the government, but on the self-interest of the entrepreneur, which gives it stability and efficiency.

This is the point that socialism always misrepresents, saying that somehow the consumer is best served by being protected in every way from that self-interest, and that to protect that consumer through government action is the noble way to serve the overall public interest.

Of course business must be regulated by law, but ultimately it is the self-interest of the shopkeeper that makes his shop -- and other shops -- possible and gives the consumer his economic freedom of choice. And this freedom ultimately is the best way to regulate business, i.e., a dishonest business, or one that produces bad products, will not stand the test of the consumer for long.

The period for a new election of a Citizen, to Administer the Executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person, who is to be cloathed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation, which binds a dutiful citizen to his country, and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your Suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped, that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives, which I am not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement, from which I have been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last Election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our Affairs with foreign Nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty, or propriety; and am persuaded whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions, with which I first undertook the arduous trust, were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the Organization and Administration of the government, the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the encreasing weight of years admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country, for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that, under circumstances in which the Passions agitated in every direction were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of Success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your Union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its Administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and Virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments; which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a People. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The Unity of Government which constitutes you one people, is now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence; the support of your tranquility at home; your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth, as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed; it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, -- northern and southern--Atlantic and western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart burnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection.

Towards the preservation of your Government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only, that you steadily discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretext. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system; and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.

In all the changes to which you may be involved, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other human institutions;--that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country;--that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular references to the founding of them on geographical discrimination. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purpose of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasional riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent it bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it, which predominate in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.

The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasion of the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering, also, that timely disbursements, to prepare for danger, frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions, in time of peace, to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.

The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes, that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper object (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct, and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt but, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it; can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducements or justifications. It leads also to concessions, to the favorite nation, of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessary parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld; and it gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens who devote themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interest.

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith:--Here let us stop.

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collusions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient Government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation, when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments, on a respectable defense posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, and a liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the Government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations, but if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated.

Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations; I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government--the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.

...The wisdom and authenticity in this speech bring tears to the eyes. To think of the sacrifices that Washington made for his nation, and the humble nature of the language here makes the man even greater than we already know that he is.

Look at what he says reflecting the idea of limiting the creation of laws, as mentioned below by Madison and Adams:

"One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system; and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown."

We must understand that a mature and free nation is a nation that adopts just a few core laws and principles, not the endless multitudes of laws that we see under modern-day socialism.

"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements... The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave."

This is in keeping with the 'minimalist' approach to liberty, that a free nation does not ally itself unnecessarily with others and their affairs.

And here is Washington speaking about free and natural commerce, which the Founders considered crucial to a free people:

"But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course..."

And here, perhaps, is Washington's most profound declaration about the role of religion and piety in maintaining liberty:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed?" -- James Madison

"Society can be governed only by general rules. Government cannot accommodate itself to every particular case, as it happens, nor to the circumstances of particular persons. It must establish general, comprehensive regulations for cases and persons. The only question is, which general rule, will accommodate most cases and most persons." -- John Adams

...Madison (1751-1836), "Father of the American Constitution" and 4th President of the United States, is here addressing an issue that must concern us today. Madison well knew that a just, fair and free society must be based on a simplicity of ideas, and be free from government encroachment at all levels, including the legislative. Under the "creeping socialism" that America is experiencing today, legislators have become obsessed with justifying their existences by simply making more and more and more laws that micro-manage our everyday lives. Every time a law is passed, another bit of our freedom slips away.

Adams (1735-1826), 2nd President of the United States and one of our most influential Founding Fathers, expressed similar thinking. We cannot micro-mange the lives of every person through laws, but must offer a general set of rules for the common good. To try and accommodate every person under law would simply lead to chaos and mob rule.

We were given a spare federal Constitution, along with like state constitutions, that have produced the freest nation in history. Yet in liberal Massachusetts, the state constitution has been amended 120 times since 1780, covering myriad eventualities that the citizens may face. Under this type of regime, the people are confused and cannot possibly know even the constitution, never mind the constant barrage of laws that the legislature passes every year. This is what socialism desires, to leave us in a state of chaos, so that liberals can rule over a confounded populace that throws up its hands and says... "Whatever!" And this is why today's liberals wish to do away with any mention of the Ten Commandments, because in just a very few words the Commandments in essence lay out the basis for a just and good society.

Sir Winston Churchill on fighting for what is right... while you still can

"Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

...Sir Winston (1874-1965), British Prime Minister during World War II, is sounding an alarm that we must heed today. We must continue to be vigilant about our freedoms before it is too late. We must seize the day and repeal the assaults on our constitutional republic before laws are made against us. For instance, liberals in America today are seeking to pass "hate crimes" laws in the name of "equality", laws that clearly abridge our freedom by criminalizing words and thoughts. These laws will make it impossible for us to even speak freely and will lead us down the road toward tyranny. Along with burdensome taxation and heavy-handed regulation of our lives and our businesses, we are slowly seeing a renting of the democratic fabric.

Top 10 Quotes from President Ronald Reagan

10) "The most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'."

9) "Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the US was too strong."

8) "If we ever forget that we are One Nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

7) "The taxpayer is someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service exam."

6) "An economist is somebody who sees something that works in practice and tries to make it work in theory."

5) "It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."

4) "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they have made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

3) "The nearest things to eternal life that we will ever see on this earth is a government program."

2) "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

And Number 1!: "Here's my strategy on the Cold War. 'We win. They lose'."

...Hey, what else is there to say!!

Abraham Lincoln on economics and self-reliance

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."

...Lincoln (1809-65) is expressing ideas here that conform directly to the conservative capitalist way of thinking. Capitalist enterprise creates a prosperous middle class by allowing people to make their own way. Lincoln was a realist, and not a sentimentalist. He understood that man is, by nature, a builder, and that people should be allowed to build and create and better themselves without the incessant intervention of the state.

You've gotta love Honest Abe when he says "you cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred". Is this not the precisely the tactic of the socialist left, to stir up anger and animosity among the classes? And when he says "you cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong", is he not contravening leftist thought which seeks to empower the dependent classes at the expense of the strong, creative and ambitious members of our society?

Philosopher John Locke on private ownership and private labor

"That labour... added something to them (the acorns or apples) more than Nature, the common mother of all, had done, and so they became his private right. And will any one say he had no right to those acorns or apples he thus appropriated because he had not the consent of all mankind to make them his?... If such a consent as that was necessary (the) man (would have) starved, notwithstanding the plenty God had given him... It is the taking of any part of what is common, and removing it out of the state Nature leaves it in, which begins the property, without which the common (gift from God) is of no use. ...Thus this law of reason makes the deer that (property of the Indian) who hath killed it; it is allowed to be his goods who hath bestowed his labour upon it, though, before, it was the common right of every one."

...John Locke (1632-1704) speaks forcefully and rationally here about what it means to reject public, communal ownership in favor of private labor and private ownership. It may seem like an abstract thought regarding individual goods like apples or deer, but in fact what he is saying applies in the macro sense as well. Once a socialistic or communistic state is imposed with government (common) control of the means of production or of land, indeed... "(the) man (would have) starved, notwithstanding the plenty God had given him..."