If Benjamin Franklin could see America today, how do you think he would feel ?
Flash Gordon
2008/11/27 22:04:34
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3 votes
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38 votes
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21 votes
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4 votes
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27 votes
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Benjamin Franklin once said " In order to preserve freedom, the people must be constantly vigilant ". Have we lived up to his vision.
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Top Opinion
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safari 2009/03/09 08:24:20Surprised...Do we even understand the meaning of the word, freedom.
+10He might not be that surprised because I think they knew what they established would be hard to keep and that is why there are so many famous quotes from the founding fathers that warn us of it. But I do think he would be disappointed we are where we are today. I bet he could whip us back into shape.
"A Republic, If You Can Keep It
by Jacob G. Hornberger, November 2001
AT THE CLOSE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government the Constitution was bringing into existence. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Regardless of one’s judgment concerning the type of government that the Constitution brought into existence in 1787, no one can deny that it was truly the most unusual and radical in history.
Consider: With the tragic exception of slavery, the United States was a society in which people could, by and large, engage in any occupation or economic enterprise without a government license, permit, or regulation.
Where people could travel anywhere in the world without restriction (no passports) and trade with whomever they pleased without the permission of their government officials.
Where people could accumulate unlimited amounts of wealth without government interference, because the Constitution did not permit the government to levy taxes on income.
Where people were free to do whatever they wanted with their own money — save, spend, donate, invest, hoard, or even destroy it.
Where government was not permitted to take care of peo...
"A Republic, If You Can Keep It
by Jacob G. Hornberger, November 2001
AT THE CLOSE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government the Constitution was bringing into existence. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Regardless of one’s judgment concerning the type of government that the Constitution brought into existence in 1787, no one can deny that it was truly the most unusual and radical in history.
Consider: With the tragic exception of slavery, the United States was a society in which people could, by and large, engage in any occupation or economic enterprise without a government license, permit, or regulation.
Where people could travel anywhere in the world without restriction (no passports) and trade with whomever they pleased without the permission of their government officials.
Where people could accumulate unlimited amounts of wealth without government interference, because the Constitution did not permit the government to levy taxes on income.
Where people were free to do whatever they wanted with their own money — save, spend, donate, invest, hoard, or even destroy it.
Where government was not permitted to take care of people — no Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, education grants, or foreign aid.
With a few exceptions (e.g., 1850s Massachusetts), there were no compulsory public (i.e., government) school systems.
No wars on drugs, poverty, or wealth.
And open borders for the free immigration of people from anywhere in the world."
http://www.fff.org/freedom/11...
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."
I was just reading this morning where nations last longer than empires.
We are moving away from a Republic more and more and a large # of Americans do not care or understands what this means!
PULL YOURSELVES UP BY THE BOOTSTRAPS AND GET BUSY SAVING THIS COUNTRY AND HER DEMOCRACY!!!
I also think he might see a glimmer of hope for us, that is if he looked deep enough through the smoke and mirrors of political rhetoric and saw us, those that still stand for the American way and have deep desire to remain free at all cost.
After 9.11 there was a burst of American pride and love, it faded all to fast and became apathy.
Now that apathy is turning to action, we have something to fight for.. Freedom. We are a nation of fighters, young and visionary. The very best country in the world.
I love this country, and I want for it to be strong, brave and true to its citizens, for that to happen we have to be for this country, strong, brave and true to it.