Read Thomas Paine

[Sophree]

I can't remember which DUer has that in their sig., or I would thank him/her by name. I finally took your advice and read "Common Sense." Wow, he was either VERY prescient or history really does repeat itself.

From Common Sense :

http://12.164.81.10/paine/commonsense/sense3.htm

"To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and imposition on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever, and tho' himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in Kings, is that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving mankind an ASS FOR A LION.

Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they might say "We choose you for our head," they could not without manifest injustice to their children say "that your children and your children's children shall reign over ours forever." Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most wise men in their private sentiments have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils which when once established is not easily removed: many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.

This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an honorable origin: whereas it is more than probable, that, could we take off the dark covering of antiquity and trace them to their first rise, we should find the first of them nothing better than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners of pre-eminence in subtilty obtained him the title of chief among plunderers; and who by increasing in power and extending his depredations, overawed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and restrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complemental; but as few or no records were extant in those days, the traditionary history stuff'd with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale conveniently timed, Mahomet-like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one (for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced many at first to favour hereditary pretensions; by which means it happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted to as a convenience was afterwards claimed as a right."

"Ass for a lion" "Chief among plunderers" indeed!

I'm almost finished with Kevin Phillips book right now and I recommend "Common Sense" as a supplemental text. Heck, it should be required reading for all DUers. If nothing else, it will help you understand * a whole lot better. ENJOY!!!!

[Faygo Kid]

1. Thank you, Thank you! An important post.

Have you seen "The Fog of War?" Please see it. I posted about it, and nobody (my only zero post, ever) responded. You are someone who could appreciate it. Thank you for an intelligent and important post. Is the Phillips book you are finishing the one about the Bush family, or the one about the stratification of our economy? More details for this bibliophile would be welcomed.

[Sophree]

2. It's about the B*sh family

Entitled-(ha, no pun intended)- "American Dynasty" HIGHLY recommended.

I have never seen "The Fog of War," but I will check it out. I love movies, but I don't think I've even heard of it. Who's in it?

Don't worry, I've had many, many posts sink like a rock! ;-)

[teryang]

3. The return of status

Hereditary rule arises from feudalism. As land was transferred by fee, it went to the heirs, forever (unless it were taken by the force of another). The king was nothing more than the principle fiefdom to whom all fealty was due. All status in fiefdom arose from the heriditary relation to property.

In order to make for a free society in which commerce could take place, the contract had to replace the obligations of fiefdom or serfdom as the primary social obligation. Freedom of contract, meant the freedom to negotiate terms of social relationship as free men and was made possible by device of representative government or the republic.

Toward this end, the "dead hand" of hereditary wealth needed to be cast off or property could not be freely exchanged in commerce. The chimp administration has returned to a new form of feudalism, in which the common person's relation to property determines all matters, rather than his ability to negotiate his own terms based upon talent and resourcefulness. To this end, the corporate lords and their aristocracy are not taxed and the dead hand of hereditary wealth has returned to stifle the public welfare as well as put an end to freedom. The obligations of the fiefdom are cast upon the common working citizen who is taxed disproportionately and whose public benefits are taken for the private benefit of the favored lords of the hereditary corporate aristocracy.

Naturally, such a social system prefers a hereditary monarch to defend their despotism.

[Sophree]

4. I've always thought

Their goal was to return us to a feudalistic system by another name. They'd probably call it "Freedonomics" or something like that.

[Sophree]

5. A kick because everyone should

Read Thomas Paine.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

6. He's easy to read too, a forceful and clear writer. n/t

n/t

[tom_paine]

7. I wholeheartedly agree! Tom Paine is my favorite Founding Father

I think that Tom Paine quote in my sig line clearly illustrates the insanity of appeasing Tyrants.

The "folly", you might say.

:evilgrin:

And don't forget Paine's "The Age of Reason" which is to religious thinking what "Common Sense" is to political thinking.

[Sophree]

8. There you are!

That quote is so on the money.

I'm going to read "The Age of Reason" next, although, to be honest, I'm a little wary, considering my own religious views. BUT, I am keeping an open mind and trying not to make a judgment about it before I have actually read the entire essay.

tom paine, you always respond to my "stop the drug war" information posts and that effort has not gone unnoticed by me- thank you!