Art of the Day: VivaBarnesLaw Community
March 26 | Posted by mrossol | American Thought, Critical Thinking, History, Western CivilizationA favorite pastime meets a favorite art: speeches. As a study of them since a kid and a practitioner since a young teen, the older speeches still speak more to me, aside from those of Martin Luther King, Jr., who often spoke in the language of a time past. A reminder whenever accused of being “unpatriotic” for opposing foolish interventionism abroad that there is no greater patriotism than opposing foolish interventionism abroad, as this excerpt from John Quincy Adams 1821 speech to Congress reminds us:
“And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind? Let our answer be this: America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government….She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force…. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit….America’s glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace.”
https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/1906836/art-of-the-day-saturday-march-26-2022
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.