Archive for the ‘Democracy’ Category
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
I am working my way through an online video list of 50 Great Political Speeches. Today, I listened to this clip of John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. Here is the clip:
“Ich bin ein Berliner” speech
I had read it before, but had not seen it. You should watch it. For me, having just finished the morning paper which proclaimed that President Obama is backing the construction of an Islamic Community Center near the mass grave that we call Ground Zero, I was slapped across the face by the dissimilar approaches of these two Presidents. Kennedy knows Communism to be an evil enemy. He slashes the naivety and support that some could have for Communism by summoning them to Berlin to see what Communism is like. He denies that we can even work with Communists. He is boisterous and his saber is rattling. He knows that the Communists are listening and he wants them to know that until they change, we, the free people of the world, will be there to oppose them. He does not deny the imperfections of democracy, but notes tellingly that “we have never built a wall to keep our people from leaving!” (more…)
Tags: Freedom, Islam, Security
Posted in Democracy, President Obama, World Events | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Often for me these days I have conflicted feeling about my country. We are engaged in so much folly that it is hard to read the paper without a sense of dread. It is hard, very hard, to study history (as I have to as part of my work and as I love to) without feeling a profound sense of loss and even at times shame seeing how far we are falling away from the firm principle and profound commitments of our founding. So I often arrive at Independence Day finding deep stirrings of patriotism conflicted with current sadness and despair. (more…)
Posted in Democracy, Politics, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down limits on corporate and individual donation limits to political campaigns. Many pundits have proclaimed this action “the end of democracy”. The cries are quite shrill—perhaps to distract people from the recent election results in New England. They claim that the corporations will buy candidates, flood the market with ads and thereby overwhelm the will of the people. Some it seems want to put a wall around Washington D.C., limit the amount of money flowing into the city, and keep, thereby, Congressmen free from the influence of the corporations. They desire a government that represents the will of the people rather than the interests of the corporations. I agree with this goal, although I think that the Campaign Finance Reform people have located the problem in the wrong place. One would have to admit that there is ample recent evidence that our country and its people have become simply a colony and slaves of the corporations. Here are a few parcels of evidence:
(more…)
Posted in Democracy | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
The quest for security continues as we endlessly roll around the ball bearings that we had in our collective pockets trying to discern how we could have failed to “connect the dots.” I see a connection between this security gaffe and why we are compelled towards classical and Christian education. (more…)
Tags: Classical Education, Security
Posted in Democracy, Education | No Comments »
