I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the perogatives of Goverment. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which Humane Nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.
RIP, Portia, you would've loved the Trump Era. Anyway, I like quoting AA's stuff because not only was she very wise and insightful, we actually have access to the real stuff she wrote, in contrast to a lot of ostensibly wise stuff the Founding Fathers allegedly said.
F'rinstance, at the end of that John Adams scene from my previous post, Franklin busts out a famous line:
God bless the King. Who else could have brought such a spirit of unity to this Congress? We will now all hang together. Or, most assuredly, we will all hang separately.
First of all, he didn't say that in 1775:
It is said that, at the signing [of the Declaration of Independence], Franklin had replied to John Hancock’s comment that the signers must all hang together by saying, “Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
I'm not mad at the script writers because, in fact, he didn't even say that in 1776:
He is, however, recorded truly making this observation in Convention, exactly 225 years before my daughter was born:[N]o biographer of Benjamin Franklin has ever been able to establish that he said, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”
That is according to Robert I. Fitzhenry in the preface of the “Harper Book of Quotations, Third Edition.”
“Tradition says that if he did not say it, he should have, and it has gone down in history as his,” Fitzhenry wrote.
Docr. FRANKLIN was for retaining the [impeachment] clause as favorable to the Executive. History furnishes one example only of a first Magistrate being formally brought to public Justice. Every body cried out agst. this as unconstitutional.
What was the practice before this in cases where the chief Magistrate rendered himself obnoxious? Why recourse was had to assassination in wch. he was not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character.
It wd.. be the best way therefore to provide in the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive where his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused.
So I applaud that brave Air Force Major for reminding everybody of one particular remedy, ineffective as it has been to date. I'd also like to remind our current obnoxious Executive that if he wants to have the same awesome legacy of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he's got the opportunity to patriotically follow suit.
In conclusion (borrowing from Abigail's letter): may justice and righteousness be the Stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion.


No comments:
Post a Comment