classic democracy quote
Elmer T. Peterson in The Daily Oklahoman (9 December 1951):
Surely, leadership should mean leading people away from that idea. Stewardship of a democracy requires doing that. If that's so, then what do we call what Obama is doing? Demagoguery, pure and simple.
Through the ages, many have considered democracy to be a degenerate form of government, on the argument that, sooner or later, it always falls prey to a demagogue.
It's not money that's the root of all evil; the root of all evil is being empowered to spend other people's money for your own benefit. Democracy depends on principled leaders who see their position as a sacred trust, and who operate with as much wisdom and restraint as they can muster. Rather than operating with respect and reverence for the nation and its history and traditions, Obama holds those in contempt; he sees himself as a Sun King, larger than the office he holds. As we are seeing, the damage that an arrogant, shallow, glib, half-educated fool like Obama can do is practically unlimited.
Future historians may decide that America had been mostly lucky, somehow or other beating the averages and ending up with better leaders than we deserved or had any right to expect. It that's so, then it was inevitable that we'd suffer a long-term erosion of principle, and that sooner or later we'd have an Obama at the helm. Too bad it didn't happen before the Executive Branch and its agencies and bureaucracies became so massively powerful, not that the Founders didn't warn about that in every way they could.
Byron
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury."
Surely, leadership should mean leading people away from that idea. Stewardship of a democracy requires doing that. If that's so, then what do we call what Obama is doing? Demagoguery, pure and simple.
Through the ages, many have considered democracy to be a degenerate form of government, on the argument that, sooner or later, it always falls prey to a demagogue.
It's not money that's the root of all evil; the root of all evil is being empowered to spend other people's money for your own benefit. Democracy depends on principled leaders who see their position as a sacred trust, and who operate with as much wisdom and restraint as they can muster. Rather than operating with respect and reverence for the nation and its history and traditions, Obama holds those in contempt; he sees himself as a Sun King, larger than the office he holds. As we are seeing, the damage that an arrogant, shallow, glib, half-educated fool like Obama can do is practically unlimited.
Future historians may decide that America had been mostly lucky, somehow or other beating the averages and ending up with better leaders than we deserved or had any right to expect. It that's so, then it was inevitable that we'd suffer a long-term erosion of principle, and that sooner or later we'd have an Obama at the helm. Too bad it didn't happen before the Executive Branch and its agencies and bureaucracies became so massively powerful, not that the Founders didn't warn about that in every way they could.
Byron
posted by Byron | Thursday, August 12, 2010
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home