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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (36794)	5/31/2013 11:44:40 AM
From: one_less	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 69300

We don’t really expect to find ideal people when reviewing the history of America. We consider what is reasonable from our experience and circumstance, which is never a match with historical experience and circumstance. Certainly unjust situations create an imbalance which nags at us until we can find a way to put the injustice to rest. Is our aim to better understand the apparent conflict, is it to correct the record, to learn from history, to resolve and reconcile, or is it to simply judge the man. The easy course is to make erroneous assumptions based on some preconceived notions of sentiment. Suffice it to say there is universality in societal mores at any given time in history where fashionable ideologies determine what is exceptional and what is not. The sense of having evolved to a finer state and the notion of a higher morality, a single standard of good, is ever present. From our current evolved sense of virtue, justice, and all that is right and good we make judgments on the words and actions of other people and, as in the case of Jefferson, by historical reference. We can attempt to take an anti-historical perspective but without walking in Jefferson’s shoes we cannot recreate the circumstance of experiences which drove his decision making. We know he was a man bound in circumstance. Apparently he was able to wield enough influence to bring tremendous change in the world related to the freedom of human beings. Like most he was less powerful on a personal and concrete level. We are not dependent on any previous individual or generation. History is writhe with both accomplishment and retrogression. We are here now and it is on each of us as individuals to orient ourselves to a living, conscious, and enduring autonomy of the present. Have peace and be free, one_less

To: average joe who wrote (36794)	6/1/2013 3:50:09 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 69300

"The Dark Side of Thomas Jefferson" Not a dark side. Pragmatism is a legitimate response to life. Truth must sometimes be kept a secret. I am no Bruno. For instance, I would never have told the Church they were evil and ignorant killers. And Jefferson was no Bruno, either... I suspect that Jefferson thought the times created more hope for his slaves as slave/servants with a job, than unemployed bums at the mercy of racist killers everywhere. (And some of them were probably good in bed...) However, I think that any slaves who actually wanted to trade safety for a dubious freedom should have been freed immediately. And that is perhaps the difference between those who believe in complete freedom and those whom presume to speak for the ignorant and the misguided. "We do it for your own good" has been used by savages burning heretics and cutting out tongues--even till today. So it is clear (to me, at least) that all people must be allowed to choose their own path, and that all must be free. The United States still justifies everything as 'for your own good'. Even though they have the best Constitution in the world...they don't always follow it.