[one2many]

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Above find two of the most insightful letters in man's history. Later Acton was knighted. You may have heard his famous saying: POWER CORRUPTS, AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY.

Also find more of Robert E. Lee's letters at:

http://home.wlu.edu/~stanleyv/pentrans.htm

[one2many]

FYI

[marron]

The 9th and 10th ammendments are the basis of "states rights". They have been sadly ignored for decades, and if we want to assure our liberty we have to reclaim them.

But we have to be clear. The purpose of these ammendments is to provide another level of separation of powers, similar in purpose to the separation of powers between the various branches of government. The point is to preserve individual liberty by assuring that no one branch or level of government has a monopoly of power, and that if any branch or level of government begins to abuse its power, the citizen has recourse to another branch, or another level, for redress.

This is how we protect liberty without having to resort to open revolution.

Thus, if the federal powers become abusive, there exists the possibility of intervention by state and local law to provide a barrier; likewise if local authorities become abusive, the citizen has the hope of protection from state or federal law.

But "states rights" must never be construed to provide justification for denial of liberty to citizens.

This is the problem.

Most of us understand the difference. But under Democratic Party rule, "states rights" was perverted into a justification for the denial of liberty. This is the reason it is now so difficult to have a reasoned discussion of the subject now; it is impossible to discuss the constitutional issues without evoking the old perversion.

In part, this is a propaganda ploy. It is the means by which Democrats try to lay the perversions and crimes of their past at Republican feet. But this is a falsehood Republicans must reject. Democrats perverted "states rights" into a defense of oppression, rather than the defense of liberty it is intended to be. In the modern world, Democrats attack the notion of "states rights" by evoking the memory of their own heresy. It is a most dishonest sleight of hand.

[T'wit]

Two men of great character, heroes in my eyes. I had no idea that they corresponded. Thank you for the post!

Acton's famous observation that "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is one of the very few conservative maxims that leftists, deep down, know to be true. In other words, it's a winning argument for us.

Elsewhere, Acton observed that the principles of free market economics could be deduced from the Gospels. My late friend William F. Rickenbacker also wrote powerfully in developing some of these New Testament arguments for free markets.

Acton's work and memory are carried on by the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, MI. Their focus is precisely to show the relationship between sound religious belief and economic freedom with its attendant growth and prosperity. I strongly commend its work and recommend its support by Freepers who want to do something for the Christian and free market view.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

bump.

[CatoRenasci]

Actually, what Lord Acton said was "all power tends to corrupt, absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely". Though not unrelated to the statement generally attributed to him, his actual words mean something rather different.

[VOA]

bump

[Constitution Day]

Bump for a worthwhile read.

[yoe]

How beautifully educated these people were, how eloquent....

[billbears]

The New England states, whose citizens are the fiercest opponents of the Southern states, did not always avow the opinions they now advocate. Upon the purchase of Louisiana by Mr. Jefferson, they virtually asserted the right of secession through their prominent men; and in the convention which assembled at Hartford in 1814, they threatened the disruption of the Union unless the war should be discontinued. The assertion of this right has been repeatedly made by their politicians when their party was weak, and Massachusetts, the leading state in hostility to the South, declares in the preamble to her constitution, that the people of that commonwealth "have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free sovereign and independent state, and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not, or may hereafter be by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled

Hartford Convention bump!!

[stainlessbanner]

Dixie Bump

[x]

Acton is a questionable authority on the United States Constitution. His argument that state's rights are a check upon "the absolutism of the sovereign will" is worthy of consideration, but secession at will is simply another form of that absolutism, not a check upon it. Giving states absolute sovereign power doesn't decrease the danger of government power. It simply shifts the locus of tyranny.

Acton's support for secession in North America and his defense of multinational empires and opposition to independence movements in Europe are certainly inconsistent. He was much less supportive of the suppressed nationalities of Europe than America's rebels against Constitutional authority. All in all, Acton looks a lot like a political dilettante.

And Lee certainly changed his own mind over time:

"The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom and forebearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It was intended for 'perpetual union' so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession." --R.E. Lee January 23, 1861

Having led armies in a bloody war to sever the Union, Lee had to believe afterwards that his cause was just and that he had no alternative. We aren't obligated to do so, and can ask whether secession is really a solution to the problem of maintaining liberty, or just a source of trouble and whether it really defends the liberties of the average citizen or just empowers political elites and agitators to do the maximum damage.

[Non-Sequitur]

That would be the same Lord Acton who said, "Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence rather than authority?" I wonder if he had Lee in mind when he said that?

[agrandis]

Good post!