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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mph who wrote (2289)	10/12/2001 12:54:09 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14610

>>In other words, people should not be constrained to silence about their own beliefs because it will offend someone else. The "someone elses", whoever they are, have a right to their own beliefs and to express them.<< Wasn't there some written by those old guys a long time ago in like the Constitution? An amendment thingy? Samantha

To: mph who wrote (2289)	10/12/2001 1:45:31 PM
From: John Pitera	Respond to of 14610

Did I ever tell you what a brilliant thinker you are :-) I was watching Richard BrookHiser for a while this weekend on C-SPAN, and listening to his thoughts on how America had benefited over the years from the "imprint" that the US received from the founders of the US. a couple of excerpts, from his hour long interview which is more texturally complex and multifaceted, than these two quotes might imply. Brookhiser, who is not a WASP, certainly does not says "Just let the WASP's run, things or anything that simplistic. But he makes eminent sense in this comment You have to begin with what you've, in fact, been dealt. I think what America has been dealt by its history and by the people who first came here is a pretty good setup, and I think we have to know what that was and build on that. : RICHARD BROOKHISER: Well, I think countries need to understand where they've come from and if they know that, they can know where they might go. I don't think countries can pick virtues out of thin air or just off a tree. The character traits a country has are given to it by its history, and the character type a country has is, therefore, also given to it by its history. Ours, I think, America's, was put in place by WASPs, by White Anglo Saxon Protestants, 200 and 300 years ago, and that's the hand history has dealt us, and it behooves us to study it and understand it. Unless we understand where we came from, we're not going to know what we might become. We're not going to have realistic notions of what we could become because you just can't improve a culture by going down a laundry list or a Chinese menu of characteristics and saying, "I want one from Column A and one from Column B and C and these all look like good ideas and we'll have that." No. You have to begin with what you've, in fact, been dealt. I think what America has been dealt by its history and by the people who first came here is a pretty good setup, and I think we have to know what that was and build on that. booknotes.org