In before the “it’s a republic, not a democracy,” pedants.
Remember....Comey is a William and Mary graduate and is teaching there now.
My ancestors.
My paternal ancestor, Bartholomew Weathersbee, landed in America in 1616 at Elizabeth City in what is now North Carolina. We have been here a long time.
Did they mention the massacre of 1/4 of the colonists by the “native Americans” (er, Powhatan tribe)?
The English initially worked hard to make friends with the Powhatans who returned the favor by murdering 347 women and children.
Things went downhill from there, and it became clear to everyone that the stone age inhabitants were probably beyond reasoning with the settlers.
Where is a link to his speech?
The colonists who came through danger to these shores in the 17th Century understood what lack of religious freedom meant; they understood what it was like for themselves and their kin to labor and have the fruits of their labors confiscated; they had understood the denigration associated with not being able to express deeply-held convictions and religious beliefs; and they longed to be free from the burdens of oppressive government.
At any rate, they came to America, and without any government in that vast wilderness to command them, to advise them, to restrict them, they played out their role in what has been called "the making of America," or, by others, "the miracle of America."
Just think of it: from 1620 or so until 1775, individual colonists who survived the harsh conditions in their new land had established an economy that was feeding the Old World.
If any do not believe that, they have not read Edmund Burke's Speech of Conciliation . . . delivered before the British Parliament in 1775.
Every Democrat and Republic leader today needs to read Burke's summary of the unheard-of economic achievements of that British Colony known as "the Americans."
What does all this have to do with Trump and the reluctant Republicans and the resistant Democrats?
Well, if they understood how and what the Years 1775 and 1776 meant, and how that band of strangers in a relatively new society dealt with the situation they found themselves in, and how they responded to courageous and outspoken fellow citizens who appealed to their love and desire for individual freedom and prosperity, then perhaps we could break this cultish and stupid ideology which self-identifies as being "Progressive," when, in fact, it is the most oppressive ideology to take root in the minds of American citizens! It is so oppressive that if allowed to continue, such authoritarian and group-think control will destroy the Constitutional Republic the men and women of 1776 and 1787 left to us and all of humanity.
There is a sharp contrast between a philosophy of love and the politics of hate which motivate today's terrorists, as well as well as the politics of the radical Left which now spouts its personal hatred in our partisan politics.
Likewise, there is a sharp contrast between a philosophy which calls for individually motivated charity and benevolence and one which requires that some individuals claim some superior right to coercively take the hard earned wages of other individuals in order to "redistribute" to others of their choosing, in the name of the Gospel of Jesus.
One idea allows individual liberty: the other idea demands coercive enforcers who use the idea of "benevolence" to buy power over others.
What Burke, in his Speech on Conciliation..." 1775, called the colonists' "fierce spirit of liberty" is still alive in the hearts of many citizens and some still "augur misgovernment at a distance and sniff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze." And, just as he observed then, their religion, "under a variety of denominations agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of liberty" underlies their devotion to freedom.
Politicians promising goodies and buying votes in exchange for power over other people's lives is popular political sport. Such sport should not be associated with the philosophy of Jesus, however.
"“Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.” - John Adams, letter to Abigail, his wife
The word does not exist in our Constitution.
Even the jerks in Washington who swore to uphold the Constitution use the word, “democracy.” These assholes never even read the Constitution!
Imagine the Pledge written their way:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the democracy for which it stands...
1619 in Virginia was called The Red Letter Year because it ushered in three events in VA: Representative government, slaves, and WOMEN arrived in sufficient numbers, intended to betroth the gentlemen settlers who far outnumbered the local gal population. This was part of the 4th Grade Virginia History instruction we received here in 1961.