A Quote More Appropriate for Today

Dale – the quote is quite relevant in every sense. Rather it is the rock bottom truth. Human nature is quite like it. Everyone aspiring for a position tend to get hold of his goal by means of his sincerity, intention and above all his ability. If he happens to be wanting in any discipline, then he attempts to compensate those deficiencies by means of his good intentions. Naturally the audience gets attracted by his sincerity and supports him for achieving his goal. But as I said human nature is weak and in most of cases, once a person scores over others and attains a position he is striving for, he tends to look ahead attributing his success to his own capacity to score. Some such people gradually tend to discard those who enabled him attain his goal “like to an empty ass to shake his ears and graze in commons”. This is part of life.

So howsoever diligently you may safeguard your liberty or freedom, it is bound to be eroded by people who, with the passing of time, neglect their very office for selfish motives or intentions.

Rarely will we find truly charismatic persons who would stand by their commitments, work hard and lead the country or the office to prosperity. But to hand-pick such deserving people who would abide by their commitments, it is necessary to motivate them right from the start and only once they are found capable of taking care of responsibilities with diligence, only then should the reins be handed over to them. But even this could fail at a given time because we are all humans and could become victims of our own selfishness.

That's why Jefferson wrote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

We would do well to pay a lot more attention to quotes from that era than we do. When is the last time you heard Obama, Pelosi, or Reid quote a Founding Father on anything?

The Founding Fathers would hardly recognize what has become of their beloved creation.

Excellent quote. Thanks for sharing it with us.
: )

Good quote and advice. The founding fathers knew the nature of man and his good intentions and crafted the constiturion to guard against both.

This is an excellent quote Dale and a great time to bring our attention to it.... if only those of power would read it and apply themselves...

Vickey -

We can't expect that those in power will apply the quote because that would mean they would have to give up their power. Very few people already in power are willing to do that on their own.

No, it's up to we the people to apply the lessons of this quote on those who mean to be our governmental leaders.

I've often thought that the best man for the job (government leader) is the one who does not covet it.

Gary - Excellent point. The founders never expected that very many would make national politics their life's desire. After all travel was difficult at best and life expectancy was low. So they never instituted term limits - didn't need to. Today we don't have those problems and we have too many people who covet national power.

Agreed. So good luck trying to find someone who would only take the job if coaxed into it by the overwhelming majority, eh? I don't know how we'd ever get back to the original Ideals of the founders.

That is why it was a mistake to throw out the Winchester system of a constitutional Monarchy! The only way to get a Head of State who did not seek the job is for him to be born to it, like the British Queen.
Just think of the benefits of avoiding the divisive circus that the Presidential Elections have become!
A monarch unites the people, a president (whether Bush or Obama) divides and polarises the people, and a Monarch has very little power, only the power to dissolve Parliament and call a new election. They cannot declare War, for example.
It is interesting to consider what America would be like today if it were still part of the Commonwealth, like Canada and Australia...

An old tale had it you could go to Dan Webster's grave and at certain times you'd hear a voice ask, "How stands the Union?" You were supposed to answer, "she stands rock bottomed and cooper sheathed" or he'd come back to fight for her...

Wish it was true, he'd be spitting wooden nickels in DC now if so....

Where's that grave again? Anyone tried? :)

in New Hampshire and I bet hourly...

:)

Great quote, there are so many areas we could apply this to!

If only people had been on guard more 50 years ago. Today, we need to stop what has been happening and go back to the country our forefathers designed.

Thanks for sharing!

Hey, I use this quote all the time.

Here's another favorite:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busy bodies. The robber baron's cruelty may some-times sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

- C. S. Lewis

Mr.Lewis could easily be talking about the Wilson Administration-or Obama's-Norman