Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.
Aristotle, Politics, Book One.
Author: Redactor
Categories
Why the Bill of Rights?
Sen. Sasse took the Supreme Court nomination hearing of Neil Gorsuch as the occasion for a “teachable moment”:
https://youtu.be/4jOkVxBDBVk?t=24m48s
Here is the whole interview, much of which is also quite good:
https://youtu.be/4jOkVxBDBVk
The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.
Master Kong, The Analects, fourth chapter.
Categories
From Selma to Montgomery
On March 25, 1965, civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr., successfully completed their four-day, 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
Categories
Henry David Thoreau
Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.
Henry David Thoreau, journal, Nov. 11, 1850, presumably playing off of rumors of dairymen diluting their product with water during a milk shortage.
Categories
Intolerable
On March 24, 1765, the Kingdom of Great Britain passed the Quartering Act, which required the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
On the same date in 1855, slavery was abolished in Venezuela.
The Intolerable Acts (among which was the Quartering Act) was the American Patriots’ name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts.
Categories
Patrick Henry
Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds. . . . Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.
Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention (June 5, 1788), speech regarding the Federal Constitution.
Categories
“Give Me Liberty”
On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia.
On this date in 1992, economist and social philosopher Friedrich August von Hayek died.
Categories
Massachusetts Bay Colony
On March 22, 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony outlawed the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables. Exactly eight years later, the colony expelled Anne Hutchinson for religious dissent.
In 1812 on this date, Stephen Pearl Andrews was born. Andrews would go on to become an important American abolitionist, free love advocate, and theorist of “individual sovereignty,” promulgating the reforms of Josiah Warren.
Categories
Guido Mantega
Today we are practically living a trade war, a currency war because the exchange rate today is one of the important factors to determine the competitiveness or not of products. Generalized currency depreciation in my view is an explicit strategy used by countries and that threatens us.
Guido Mantega, “The Role of Industry in the Growth of Brazil” organized by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, September 27, 2010. This statement from Brazil’s Finance Minister is eerily similar to statements made by folks around the world — about other countries’ monetary policies. Donald Trump bases his complaints against China on precisely these grounds. Pictured: the Brazilian Real against the U.S. Dollar from 2007 to 2017, courtesy xe.com.