______________________________
- A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation.
Reflect on this. Traditionally, the American South, true to its slaving and sectarian roots, REFUSES to make a decent provision for the poor. This tells us much about the region… its history, its “faith”, its mores, and its society. The American Civil War didn’t happen for nought… slavery was only one of the causes. This is one reason why the contemporary Republican Party is evil… it panders to a group that has always treated the poor like dirt under their feet. Sectarianism teaches that only the “elect” will gain salvation and that one of the ways that one can tell the “elect” is that they’re well-off financially. To speak honestly, Jean Calvin would’ve been horrified at how his ideas turned out. Mistrust all who preach that we must “balance the budget” on the backs on the poor, aged, and unemployed. They usually have low motive…
- To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage.
THIS is why I value my Cabinet so. I’m always open to them, whenever they need me. I value my friends, whether I agree with them on this or that point. Love (agape) doesn’t require agreement… it requires respect, a very different and better thing.
- I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.
That is, death does come for us all. This is at the bedrock of my belief. I will NOT succumb to fear or let the knowledge of my personal demise paralyse me. This is our common heritage… no matter what we believe in (and secularists ARE believers, they’re simply not theists). Life IS worth the candle, and there ARE things that one should fight for, even though all of us will face our personal end at one time or another (yes, I AM a religious believer… but I also realise that I must die and leave this life).
- Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.
Always beware those who push simplistic and enticing nostrums… probably, there’s a hook hidden somewhere. They want to level all of the rest of us to a low level… so that they can lead the pack. Always beware ambition… it lies behind most strident calls to “equality”.
- I am a great friend to public amusements, for they keep people from vice.
I hate bluenoses and their censorious attitude to drink, cards, the theatre, the racetrack, and all the other innocent amusements that life has to offer. True, one can abuse all of the above. However, abuse is ABUSE… it isn’t use. Blue comedy isn’t sinful; it’s simply a violation of petite bourgeois decorum (Chubby Brown shouldn’t be on before the watershed… but he isn’t “sinful” in the strictest sense)… a very different thing, wot?
- As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly.
One can more readily be tolerant to “sinners” the more one is aware of one’s own sinfulness! Life teaches us that we aren’t any great shakes, either, so, one learns that one’s fellows are worthy of forgiveness. Mind you, forgiveness doesn’t mean “forgetting” or “absence of consequence”. That comes as it will, and our attitude towards an action doesn’t change what it does nor does it transform the impression that it leaves. However, it does deliver us from judgementalism and hate… no small beer, that. Most of all, life teaches us that we commit actions that leave consequence and impression… and that we can’t change them, no matter what we do. The Pharisee or the Publican… whom do YOU prefer?
- The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public.
One must always mistrust those who speak of “deregulation”. Life teaches us that people are in want of regulation, and that many run rampant if not checked in one way or another. Anyone who tells you that “deregulation” will lead to a paradisiacal nirvana has an agenda… one that doesn’t augur well for their fellow man. We don’t live in the Garden. Mistrust all who worship Ayn Rand.
- Let us take a patriot, where we can meet him; and, that we may not flatter ourselves by false appearances, distinguish those marks which are certain, from those which may deceive; for a man may have the external appearance of a patriot, without the constituent qualities; as false coins have often lustre, though they want weight.
Look at how contemporary Republicans beat the war drums. Also, note how few of them served in the forces themselves. Richard Cheney said, “I had better things to do”. Mr Cheney was honest, but does “honesty” make one a “patriot?” I think that you see my point. Willard Romney refused to serve in the forces and had his rich daddy “buy” him a bogus clergy deferment (he was a “missionary” in darkest France). Pete Seeger was proud to serve; he served in the Pacific Theatre of World War II (“To tell you the truth, I’m not a pacifist. If an army invaded this country of mine, I’d be the first one up on the firing line”). Beware all those who wrap themselves up in the flag.
- How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?
Take this in its widest sense, not merely that of racial bias (bad as that is). Those screaming loudest for “freedom” are those who wish to deprive others of it for personal gain and profit. For instance, “economic freedom” means the “freedom” to abuse others for personal gain, with no government regulation to prevent it. They scream for “the right to keep and bear arms”, yet, when a black woman merely fires a gun in the air to scare off an abusive husband, they sentence her to twenty years in the slam (but they acquit a white man who killed someone in an incident that the shooter provoked). I’m not the only one to find that hypocritical… and evil. If you hear yelps for “freedom”, ask yourself, “Does this person benefit from a relaxation of the law?” If so, fight that hypocritical bastard with all your might. God expects that of you…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
15 October 2013. Some Thoughts Provoked by Reading Dr Johnson
Tags: abuse, American Civil War, Ayn Rand, DICK CHENEY, Dr Johnson, English literature, intellectual standards, intellectuals, literature, Mitt Romney, moral, moral dilemma, moral stance, morality, morals, personal philosophy, Pete Seeger, Philosophy, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Republicans, Samuel Johnson, United States, USA, Willard Romney, world literature
______________________________
Reflect on this. Traditionally, the American South, true to its slaving and sectarian roots, REFUSES to make a decent provision for the poor. This tells us much about the region… its history, its “faith”, its mores, and its society. The American Civil War didn’t happen for nought… slavery was only one of the causes. This is one reason why the contemporary Republican Party is evil… it panders to a group that has always treated the poor like dirt under their feet. Sectarianism teaches that only the “elect” will gain salvation and that one of the ways that one can tell the “elect” is that they’re well-off financially. To speak honestly, Jean Calvin would’ve been horrified at how his ideas turned out. Mistrust all who preach that we must “balance the budget” on the backs on the poor, aged, and unemployed. They usually have low motive…
THIS is why I value my Cabinet so. I’m always open to them, whenever they need me. I value my friends, whether I agree with them on this or that point. Love (agape) doesn’t require agreement… it requires respect, a very different and better thing.
That is, death does come for us all. This is at the bedrock of my belief. I will NOT succumb to fear or let the knowledge of my personal demise paralyse me. This is our common heritage… no matter what we believe in (and secularists ARE believers, they’re simply not theists). Life IS worth the candle, and there ARE things that one should fight for, even though all of us will face our personal end at one time or another (yes, I AM a religious believer… but I also realise that I must die and leave this life).
Always beware those who push simplistic and enticing nostrums… probably, there’s a hook hidden somewhere. They want to level all of the rest of us to a low level… so that they can lead the pack. Always beware ambition… it lies behind most strident calls to “equality”.
I hate bluenoses and their censorious attitude to drink, cards, the theatre, the racetrack, and all the other innocent amusements that life has to offer. True, one can abuse all of the above. However, abuse is ABUSE… it isn’t use. Blue comedy isn’t sinful; it’s simply a violation of petite bourgeois decorum (Chubby Brown shouldn’t be on before the watershed… but he isn’t “sinful” in the strictest sense)… a very different thing, wot?
One can more readily be tolerant to “sinners” the more one is aware of one’s own sinfulness! Life teaches us that we aren’t any great shakes, either, so, one learns that one’s fellows are worthy of forgiveness. Mind you, forgiveness doesn’t mean “forgetting” or “absence of consequence”. That comes as it will, and our attitude towards an action doesn’t change what it does nor does it transform the impression that it leaves. However, it does deliver us from judgementalism and hate… no small beer, that. Most of all, life teaches us that we commit actions that leave consequence and impression… and that we can’t change them, no matter what we do. The Pharisee or the Publican… whom do YOU prefer?
One must always mistrust those who speak of “deregulation”. Life teaches us that people are in want of regulation, and that many run rampant if not checked in one way or another. Anyone who tells you that “deregulation” will lead to a paradisiacal nirvana has an agenda… one that doesn’t augur well for their fellow man. We don’t live in the Garden. Mistrust all who worship Ayn Rand.
Look at how contemporary Republicans beat the war drums. Also, note how few of them served in the forces themselves. Richard Cheney said, “I had better things to do”. Mr Cheney was honest, but does “honesty” make one a “patriot?” I think that you see my point. Willard Romney refused to serve in the forces and had his rich daddy “buy” him a bogus clergy deferment (he was a “missionary” in darkest France). Pete Seeger was proud to serve; he served in the Pacific Theatre of World War II (“To tell you the truth, I’m not a pacifist. If an army invaded this country of mine, I’d be the first one up on the firing line”). Beware all those who wrap themselves up in the flag.
Take this in its widest sense, not merely that of racial bias (bad as that is). Those screaming loudest for “freedom” are those who wish to deprive others of it for personal gain and profit. For instance, “economic freedom” means the “freedom” to abuse others for personal gain, with no government regulation to prevent it. They scream for “the right to keep and bear arms”, yet, when a black woman merely fires a gun in the air to scare off an abusive husband, they sentence her to twenty years in the slam (but they acquit a white man who killed someone in an incident that the shooter provoked). I’m not the only one to find that hypocritical… and evil. If you hear yelps for “freedom”, ask yourself, “Does this person benefit from a relaxation of the law?” If so, fight that hypocritical bastard with all your might. God expects that of you…
BMD