Founding Father's Friday

I think this will be a regular feature here. Every Friday some words from our founders that really apply to what is going on today. These men were some of the smartest who have ever lived and would be devasted if they were still alive to see what this country has become.

To start us off I have a quote from Samuel Adams that I have come across recently in a book that I am reading. As I was reading these words for the first time the alarm bells were going off in my head.

"He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man. We must not conclude merely upon a man's haranguing upon liberty, and using the charming sound, that he is fit to be trusted with the liberties of his country. It is not unfrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by it but their own liberty, - to oppress without control or the restraint of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves." Loyalty and Sedition, essay in The Advertiser, 1748

Remind you of anybody? We as an electorate have been putting men into office who are not wise and virtous for too long now. Just because a politician has a charming sound does not mean he is fit to be trusted with the liberty of this country. We should look at their entire body of work and determine if what they are saying is how they have acted and voted in the past. Also notice the first sentence "He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue...". I want leaders who are out talking about how great this country is not apologizing for it. We should all keep this in mind the next time we step into the voting booth.