Politics

Book Recommendation: What America Is

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In 2019, Encounter Books published America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It, a landmark book by C. Bradley Thompson. (See my brief review.) Now Prof. Thompson has launched his own imprint, Loco-Foco Press, with the publication of his beautiful short book, What America Is. This new book consists of […]

Politics

Happy Independence Day

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Today I celebrated Independence Day by reading the Declaration of Independence and some pages of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Anyone who wonders about the connection is invited to read the right-hand column of the home page of this blog. Second Renaissance Books once published a tear-off calendar, “Ayn Rand Quote of the Day • […]

Politics

Happy Birthday, Patrick Henry

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My blog has famous quotations of Patrick Henry here and on the sidebar of the main page. Here are two more that are a little less famous. “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, […]

Politics

Happy Jefferson’s Birthday

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Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823: We believed that men, enjoying in ease and security the full fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all their interests on the side of law and order, habituated to think for themselves and to follow their reason as their guide, would be more easily and safely governed than […]

Politics

Patrick Henry on Hope, Peace, and Liberty

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This is near the start of the speech: Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged […]

Politics

Happy Washington’s Birthday

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George Washington to Patrick Henry October 9, 1795: “I can most religiously aver that I have no wish that is incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interest of the people of this country. My ardent desire is, and my aim has been (as far as depended upon the Executive Department) to comply strictly with […]

Politics

A Great and Glorious Inaugural Address — from 1801

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http://ahp.gatech.edu/jefferson_inaug_1801.html Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United States First Inaugural Address Given at the Capitol Building, Washington, DC Wednesday, March 4, 1801 “… what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens — a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring […]