Posted on 07/04/2019 6:25:02 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
As Benjamin Franklin departed the Constitutional Convention, he was asked if the framers had created a monarchy or a republic. "A republic," he famously replied, and then added, "if you can keep it."
The remarkable generation that founded this nation led an improbable yet successful revolution against the strongest military power of the time. They declared their independence based on self-evident truths, asserting a new basis of political rule in the sovereignty of the people and launching an experiment in self-government. Through a carefully written constitution that limits power and secures rights while allowing for change through its own amendment, they created an enduring framework of republican government that bestows upon their posterity the same blessings of liberty.
But what the American Founders did not do-could not do-was guarantee the success of their creation. Franklin and the other Founders knew that their experiment depended on future generations, which meant the education of future citizens. "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization," Thomas Jefferson once warned, "it expects what never was-and never will be."
This Fourth of July, as we look ahead, we should also look back-not to some mythical moment in America's past-but to the true roots of our national greatness. America needs to transform its resolve into a new era of responsibility in which we, as a nation and as a people, recover our purpose and our spirit. But to do this, we must also consciously revive and relearn-in ourselves and in our children-the moral truths and enduring principles of this great experiment in liberty and self-government.
(Excerpt) Read more at heritage.org ...
“For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?”
― Benjamin Franklin
We won’t keep it if we keep re-electing the same Bush League Republicans that enticed 30 million illegal aliens here against our will with promises of amnesty.
The Leftists continue to call our gov’t a democracy
Those are the most gentle words that describe that absurd title! Where have these morons been since that progressive genus T.R. was President?
T.R. like all great men had incredible flaws, both in character and in ideology — but he left us with some incredible books, speeches, lectures, and writings. Totally worth a look when you get chance!
https://www.frfrogspad.com/writings.htm
One takeaway I get from TR’s life was his insatiable appetite for ADVENTURE. He traveled through the wilds of Brazil, Africa, our own country’s wilderness of course...and oh how I wish that sense was re-instilled in the modern psyche...
“Life-histories of African game animals. Volume 1” by Theodore Roosevelt and Edmund Heller
https://books.google.com/books?id=gYoNAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
The fire of the republic went out in 1913.....we’ve just been blowing on embers whenever a decent republican has been in....
You consider Wilson the turning point?
Woodrow Wilson was the worst us president of all time because he snuffed out the republic and ushered in the American empire.....
We have just had a few good elected emporers amongst many bad one’s ever since
Once state legislatures ie. Senators/Ambassadors were recalled to states... And state governments lost representative power... The republic was technically dead.
That was a very sobering post.
Agreed. That whole era was when the American brand of communism - Progressivism(TM) - dealt several death blows to the Republic.
Fascinating concept: you can not be ignorant and free.
The more I think about it, the truer it is.
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.