Thought

George Mason

Sharing

In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim — that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Seeing What’s There
Sharing“One can squint and see ballot measures as a kind of …
Votes Without Poison
SharingStrange election. So … round up the usual suspects! Immediately after …
Don’t Copy Chávez
SharingAmericans eager to weaken various limits on political power here …
Representative or Reprehensible?
SharingSeventy-seven million. That is the dollar amount of “financial errors” that …
Are They Out of Session Yet?
SharingWhile Americans readily share power with their representatives, those representatives …

Measures for Measures
November 23, 2024
This year was an interesting one for initiatives.Read More »
Denial Is a River in Argentina?
November 22, 2024
Paul Jacob on one country’s retreat from self-imposed poverty.Read More »
Watch Out!
November 21, 2024
Paul Jacob on strange edits in the Lone Star State.Read More »
The Hill as Hallucinogen
November 19, 2024
Paul Jacob on a false news story, gone but not …Read More »
Elon & Vivek to Cut Government?
November 18, 2024
Paul Jacob on who could help whom do what is …Read More »

Cheaters Never Prosper
Sharing“I want to go home,” Arkansas State Senator Jon Woods whimpered. …
Coming to Terms with A Logical Fallacy
SharingGood people can disagree about term limits. It’s not a moral issue, …
“Dorky” Doesn’t Define It
Sharing“Term limits,” said Daniel McCarthy, editor of The Modern Age, …
In the Pudding
SharingRepublicans have made much hay of the Mercatus Center map …
House-Cleaning & Law-Following
SharingLarry Hogan, Maryland’s popular Republican governor, has vowed to “clean …

The Incumbency vs. Progressives
Sharing“The Democratic Party leadership is choosing machine politics,” charged Alexandra …
Hat Hate
SharingI will concede — at least “arguendo” — that President Trump is awful. But …
Force Over Persuasion
SharingToday’s campus radicals assert that free speech is bad because …
Daughter Draft
Sharing“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” For years, the …
Why Do You Want People to Starve?
SharingIn the 20th century, 100 million people were killed by …

On November 23, 1644, British poet John Milton published Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.

Revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse.
John Milton, Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England (1644).

The name “Areopagitica” references a speech by Isocrates, the “Areopagitikós” that itself referenced a hill in Athens, Greece, the Areopagus, which had been the site of an important tribunal that the Greek orator had hoped to restore. It may also refer to the defense that St. Paul made before the Areopagus against charges of promulgating alien gods and outré teachings (see Acts 17:18 – 34).