FFQF: Alexander Hamilton — Again!
It’s Friday again! Thank God It’s Friday, because today is Founding Fathers Quote Friday.
Again, today’s quote comes from Alexander Hamilton, as did last week’s. Normally, I wouldn’t quote from a Founder twice in a row, but I didn’t know how much longer I could wait until I shared one of my favorites. The following has my favor, not necessarily because of its positive outlook, but because it puts things into their proper perspective.
The triumphs of vice are no new thing under the sun, and I fear, till the millennium comes, in spite of all our boasted light and purification, hypocrisy and treachery will continue to be the most successful commodities in the political market. Letter to Richard Harrison, January 5, 1793
It is important to keep in mind the fact that the Founders did not set out to create some kind of paradise or utopia when they set out to establish our country. It is also important to remember that freedom does not work unconditionally; it has no inherent ability to survive on its own, so to speak. Freedom will only work to the extent that citizens are virtuous and alert. When the majority of them fails to do this, true liberty cannot last.
This selection is not the typical “speechifying” we get from today’s public figures. To the Founders, liberty was more than a subject for “feel-good” talk. It was something that had to be maintained and preserved, through “eternal vigilance.” Freedom is not within the nature of mankind, though all men want it.
2 Responses to “FFQF: Alexander Hamilton — Again!”
August 29th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
This is so true, and not just in the political marketplace. I see so many in the churches that are boasting of light and purity, and at the same time, they’re being deceived by spiritual “leaders.”
Whoever said “Pride goeth before a fall” knew what he was talking about.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Great post! I did mine today, too.
http://newyorktraveler.net/ffqf-hamilton-the-federalist/
Off to see the others. Happy FFQF!
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