Posted on 08/10/2017 8:15:17 AM PDT by Heartlander
The Google firing confirms a working hypothesis I have been pondering recently. The French Revolution is attacking the American Revolution.
The American Revolution was sparked by the Enlightenment, Judeo/Christian moral beliefs, mixed with Greek and Roman philosophy and political theories. At its best, the American Revolution promotes universal human equality–a work still in progress–individual freedom, freedom of thought and speech, the rule of law, etc..
The French Revolution, in contrast, is Utopian, collectivist, authoritarian, intolerant, and punitive. It is anti-religion generally and anti-Christianity specifically. It accepts the belief that the ends justify the means.
At its worst, the FR unleashed some of history’s most vile and destructive tyrannies: The First Republic and The Terror, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, etc.
In its more mundane iterations, French Revolution ideologies express as the social fascism we increasingly witness today, such as the stifling of free speech on college campuses and thought control pogroms that cost professionally competent people their jobs for expressing disfavored opinions.
And here’s its inherent weakness: The French Revolution is never satisfied. Wrongs are never fully remedied. It grows ever more extreme until, eventually, it eats its own. Just ask Robespierre.
Bill whittle did an EXCELLENT video comparing the two revolutions. It demonstrates that the two were rooted in different philosophies regarding the inherent “goodness” of man, and how the two played out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dwz_Z62e0s
And frankly, it is looking like the US is on the verge of a more “French” type revolution right now. The thing is, we have a good constitution. The problem is that it is not being enforced or consulted much by our leaders. They have strayed and need to get back on track.
I am not a scholar of the French Revolution.
There is one thing which struck me when I read just a little.
It was amazingly well organized. Just like American leftists.
Watch the video I posted. It is extremely informative for the time it takes. It is also very interesting.
And yes, they ate their own.
“At its best, the American Revolution promotes universal human equality...”
Unbelievable that the idiot that wrote this can be so blind!
That’s what got D’Amore fired, for daring to say the obvious, which is, people are NOT equal.
The notion that we’re are all equal is one of the most dangerous bit of propaganda that’s been perpetrated on people and both the French and American revolutions are guilty of that,and today we are constantly praying the price for it.
The two revolutions also have different understanding of human equality. For the American revolutionist it is equality under the law. For the French it is equality in status. The former is equality of opportunity but it is up to the individual to profit from it. The latter is equality of results and produces Procrustes’ bed, thus always tending towards violence and tyranny.
Organized, but not.
No reasoned thought process, no debate, no serious thinking about what should be done and how it can be accomplished.
I believe 2 characteristics are vital to success of any “revolution” - enthusiasm, and rationality.
The AmRev era had plenty of both. The asinine French was driven all by enthusiasm, gusto, just grabbing the bull by the horns and eliminating what they hated. There was little reasoned thought going into anything, just anger and hostility.
The other reply is right. We have ALWAYS been about equality UNDER THE LAW.
It is laziness which turns it into equal abilities, or equal outcomes. Saying “everyone is equal” is easier than including the whole phrase “under the law”. Then dummies think it’s abilities, outcomes, etc, rather than just treating people fairly in court and in public.
It was also directly responsible for unleashing Napoleon on the world. The incredible horror and destabilization of the FR opened the door for a dictator to restore some order.
The first principle of the Declaration is equality, which means no one is by nature the ruler of another. Equality gives rise to natural rights, which are inherent and inalienable, and include life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, property, and religion. To secure these rights, human beings consent to leave the state of nature and form a government, which protects our rights through such means as national defense, criminal laws, civil laws, and minimal support for the poor.
- Thomas G. West
Any revolution with socialist tendencies is an oxymoron.
It’s like shouting out “We demand independent dependence!”
“The other reply is right. We have ALWAYS been about equality UNDER THE LAW.”
The other guy has it wrong too. The declaration states all men are CREATED equal. It doesn’t have any ‘under the law” qualifier. That was something that was added to make the initial declaration sound less absurd.
But the guy that wrote the idiotic article is not even smart enough to utilize that cover, he goes back to the original absurd statement.
That original statement in the declaration gives today’s egalitarian monger a ton of cover. They are the true believer of that moronic assertion, for if all people are CREATED EQUAL, then the only possible reason for unequal results is discrimination and injustice and they feel righteous in ending such injustice by whatever means. And they are doing it.
I agree that the much more narrow interpretation “equality under the law” would have been a far less dangerous assertion, but that’s not what’s there.
The key difference between the French and American revolution is we, at least initially, put more emphasis on freedom than equality, whereas the French put more emphasis on egalite’ than liberte’. Today as the Google episode and so many other demonstrate, we have become the french, by putting all the emphasis on equality and throwing freedom under the bus.
Napoleon didn’t restore the social order he completely changed it. In France he created the model for the modern nation state. Created new institutions, a codified legal system, eliminated tariffs. In Europe at large he destroyed the existing social order. The days of hereditary monarchy was over. Even after his military defeats and the restoration of monarchy in Europe, he set the stage for their eventual overthrow. The FR began in 1789 with Tennis Court Oath. In 1794 the Jacobins took over after Louis XVI attempted to flee the country with Marie Antoniette while he was on trial and France was at war with its neighbors Austria and Prussia. It was perceived the king betrayed France and was going over to the enemy. This was after his Swiss Guard got into a huge street battle with the Paris mob and was hacked to pieces. Its too bad as there was a moderate faction called the Girondians that represented the rural people that enjoyed wide support. The Jacobins (Ropespierre and the rest of the committee of public safety led them) represented the Paris slums. The Jacobins succeeded in defeating and executing all of the Girondians. That led to the reign terror and eventually Napoleans’s rise.
One aspect of both revolutions that has been not fully explored is the role of Freemasonry. It played a larger role in the French Revolution than the American Revolution. When the monarchs of Europe were fighting the French revolution they outlawed Freemasonry because they correctly believed it undermined their rule and promoted the principals of the revolution.
“The first principle of the Declaration is equality, which means no one is by nature the ruler of another.”
Well that’s that guy’s interpretation of “created equal”, but it’s equally idiotic.
Are you telling me that a powerful person “by nature” doesn’t become the ruler of a weakling left to their nature and as the result of their respective nature?
The last place you want to appeal for equality is nature, which is the epitome of “might makes right”.
This romantic notion of “natural law” is nothing but wishful thinking - a Disney world view of reality. “Natural law” in reality is the law of the jungle.
Thomas G. West holds the Paul Ermine Potter and Dawn Tibbetts Potter Endowed Professorship in Politics at Hillsdale College.
See also: Natural Law
Ping to read in greater detail later. Looks like an interesting article.
“Thomas G. West holds the Paul Ermine Potter and Dawn Tibbetts Potter Endowed Professorship in Politics at Hillsdale College”
I couldn’t care less - nonsense is nonsense regardless of the source.
“Appeal to authority” is one of the most frequently used logical fallacy.
Think for yourself - do the hard work of examining the arguments yourself and then decide. Question everything and be your own devil’s advocate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.