A Quotable Quotes column
This is a weekly column consisting of letters to my perspicacious progeny. I write letters to my grandkids — the Stickies — eventual selves to advise them and haunt them after they've become grups and/or I'm deleted.
Trigger Warning: This column is rated SSC — Sexy Seasoned Citizens — Perusal by kids, callowyutes, or grups may result in a debilitating meltdown.
"I write my own quotes. Except this one. I obviously stole this from somebody really clever." -Brian Celio
Dear Stickies and Gentlereaders,
For a moment there I thought that Sister Mary Mcgillicuddy had deceived me back in seventh grade.
I was taught that America was the result of, and continues to be, a grand experiment and that this was, and is, a RBF'D.
Turning to Wikipedia first as I often do when looking for information that might be more neutral in tone and content than what might pop up on the world wide web of all knowledge, I typed the words the American experiment into Wikipedia's search box.
Hoo-boy.
Wikipedia returned an entry about a high school history textbook.
How about if I leave off the the, and just go with American experiment?
The page "American experiment" does not exist. You can create a draft and submit it for review, but consider checking the search results below to see whether the topic is already covered.
Which was followed by a link to the page about the history textbook mentioned above and links to some equally useless entries. Interesting, huh?
{The the?}
Cool, right? Anyways, I went a-googlin.' No joy till it finally occurred to me to type in: what is the American experiment.
{Well, duh!}
I'm not sure we're allowed to use the word duh anymore. It sounds... triggering?
{Walk on the wild side, Sparky!}
I found a great quote in an editorial published on 11/27/1860 in the New York Daily-Tribune (about the approaching Civil War) that's rather lengthy, but perfect.
We have been regarded as engaged in trying a great experiment, involving not merely the future fate and welfare of this Western continent, but the hopes and prospects of the whole human race. Is it possible for a Government to be permanently maintained without privileged classes, without a standing army, and without either hereditary or self-appointed rulers? Is the democratic principle of equal rights, general suffrage, and government by a majority, capable of being carried into practical operation, and that, too, over a large extent of country?
{Without a standing Army? Privileged classes?}
Not now, Dana, I don't want to...
{Wait-wait-wait. What do you think the American experiment is?}
Let's set up a democratic republic to try and avoid the many downsides of pure democracy and see what happens. It hadn't been really tried before, so it was and is an ongoing experiment.
A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy – A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it. -From the journal of James McHenry
The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment, for promoting human happiness, by reasonable compact, in civil Society. -G. Washington
The question in society is never whether elites shall rule but which elites are going to rule, and the test in a democracy is to get popular consent to worthy elites. -George Will
Let common sense flow from below. -Joel Kotkin
The experiment was launched, and we got lucky. So did the rest of the world, both directly and indirectly.
{How about some details?}
Nope. This isn't the introduction to a history book; the details are readily available. But be careful and circumspect, Wokies are everywhere. Besides, given how quickly the Wokie virus has spread, and how virulent it is, I'm content to hole up here in the Ohio mountains sending out weekly dispatches to my gentlereaders.
If the epidemic recedes to the point (there have been some positive developments) where I don't fear a book of any sort would put the denizens of Casa de Chaos in danger perhaps I'll compile my best columns and publish them as a book.
But the next presidential election is "only" a year and a half away so I'm keeping my head down.
{Fine then. How about some more quotes?}
- I personally hold that the classical spirit of challenge and self-discovery is a fundamental human trait. By showing how the risk-taking activity of individuals contributes to social benefits, economics helps societies to accommodate what Augustine called our “restlessness of heart.” This is the better part of our human nature. Societies that suppress this restlessness stagnate and die. The issue of morality in economics is neither the fairness of income distribution nor the stability of financial systems. It is how human institutions can be shaped to correspond to human nature — to man’s nature as an innovator.
-Edmund Phelps, 2006 Nobelist in Economics
{So what's next. Are you cautiously optimistic?}
No.
- The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. -George Will
- We are a pack animal constantly trying to make sure we have high status within the pack; we have a really hard time distinguishing between “having attention” and “deserving attention;” we principally learn by doing and emulation (not by thinking). -Jordan Hall
- We live in a new medieval age, when pseudo-religious “secular-humanist” oligarchs rule, their clericals carry out orders, their scribes record, and their “true believers” genuflect, to promote their self-interests. Hence, Pope Joe, the deep state, the mainstream media... -Judith Thorman
- When highly educated wonks in DC or Manhattan get involved, they often — in their well-credentialed ignorance — pit one of these groups against the others. The least educated are the most despised by the highly educated: working-class men appear to be necessary for Republican fortunes, but they are deemed deplorably unchurched and unworthy of any but the lowest place in the global economy. -Daniel McCarthy
However, my "restlessness of heart" manifests as writing this column and hoping I can help, however insignificantly, to return America to sanity.
Poppa loves you,
Have an OK day
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