Edmund Burke ping. You’re going to have fun with this clymer.
What is the preservation of freedom through the repeal of an instrument of oppression of it - is it not the the combination of a general view of society with a concrete measure required for its preservation? I think Edmund Burke is quoted out of context but even if he is quoted accurately, he would not approve of Obamacare today.
Burke WAS quoted out of context. Here is the full passage:
I never govern myself, no rational man ever did govern himself, by abstractions and universals. I do not put abstract ideas wholly out of any question, because I well know that under that name I should dismiss principles; and that without the guide and light of sound well-understood principles, all reasonings in politics, as in everything else, would be only a confused jumble of particular facts and details, without the means of drawing out any sort of theoretical or practical conclusion.
The abstractions and universals EJ Dionne so airily dismisses with such contempt are called principles. Its impossible to develop a political train of thought without them. The coherence of ideology is what gives political life its light, color and vitality.