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1 posted on 05/03/2012 1:39:06 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

bump


2 posted on 05/03/2012 1:47:25 AM PDT by exnavy (May the Lord bless and keep our troops.)
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To: neverdem
In both its hard and soft forms, the secular project was wrong. Above all, it ignored the deep truth that it takes a certain kind of people, living certain virtues, to make democracy and the free economy work properly. People of that kind do not just happen. They must be formed in the habits of heart and mind, the virtues that enable them to guide the machinery of free politics and free economics so that the net outcome is human flourishing and the promotion of the common good. There is no such formation in the virtues of freedom available at the empty shrine.

You found a good one, neverdem. Thanks for sharing.

4 posted on 05/03/2012 3:26:47 AM PDT by GOPJ (“A Dog In Every Pot” - freeper ETL)
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To: neverdem
I came across this yesterday from the Virginia ratifying Convention of 1788. James Madison was tiring of the cheap shots and delaying tactics of the Anti-Federalists who assumed every power in the Constitution would be immediately abused.

"But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure."

"To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea."

"If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men; so that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them."

5 posted on 05/03/2012 3:43:11 AM PDT by Jacquerie (No court will save us from ourselves.)
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To: neverdem
Leo wrote that "the best parent and guardian of liberty amongst men is truth."

And, when the men and women of leadership, either secular or religious leaders can not hold to the Biblical truths entrusted to them by God (it says in the Bible that they are there because God puts them there), then we truly have the enemy at the water gate.

And it is, by the way, Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin...not "Parsin".

After reading the article, now perhaps my fellow Freepers will realize why I selected my moniker. Good day to all.

9 posted on 05/03/2012 4:21:17 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: neverdem

Later


10 posted on 05/03/2012 4:24:52 AM PDT by I_be_tc
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To: neverdem

Powerful commentary

Societal Disarray, to my mind, driven by
a loss of two primary virtues

Humility and Gratitude


13 posted on 05/03/2012 6:05:51 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: neverdem

“in the 6th century before our era.”

Why would he not write “in the 6th century before Christ”?


14 posted on 05/03/2012 6:56:56 AM PDT by rwa265 ("This is My Beloved Son, Listen to Him.")
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To: neverdem

Too long to read right now, but this looks interesting. Thanks for posting.


18 posted on 05/03/2012 9:53:50 AM PDT by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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To: neverdem
Thank you for submitting such a thought provoking piece by Weigel.

The so-called "progressive" movement has, over America's last 100+ years, like termites, eroded the foundations of America's founding ideas of Creator-endowed liberty by removing references to the Divine and replacing it with what Weigel calls an "empty shrine."

As a result, citizens find themselves to be without adequate weapons in the battle of ideas.

In the Pope's speech in Germany a few years ago, he observed:

"A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures."

Yesterday, on another thread, I shared the following link to Eugen Richter's satire entitled, "Pictures of the Socialistic Future," to be of interest.

When one looks around at what has happened to America already, and the degree to which the backward "forward" ideas of "progressives" have dimmed the light of liberty which once beamed from America, then Richter's pages take on new meaning.

Click on any of the segments and find something relevant to today's discussions. Please note that this exquisite bit of satire by Richter was written in 1893.

Coincidentally, in "The New Laws" section, he mentions that the "organ" under the new order is called "Onward." How interesting is that? Other sections describing family, work, etc., in a world centered around an "empty shrine" ought to stir deep feelings in the hearts of most who have memories of a different time.

Had most of us read this writer's work twenty years ago, it might not have the chilling effect it does today. After the last 3 years, however, the descriptions of life in a "socialistic future," as described, even in satirical terms, is current as today's news, and too realistic to be amusing.

19 posted on 05/03/2012 10:27:39 AM PDT by loveliberty2
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