Frederick Douglass is one of our greatest Americans. Why? Because he HATED America.
He hated it like we can never know. He was a slave to a master. He was property to another man.
When he escaped tyranny he toured the nation and condemned the Constitution for “supporting and perpetuating this monstrous system of injustice and blood.”
But Slater, why do you love Frederick Douglass because he HATED America?
Because he went on a quest for knowledge. One day he decided to sit down and “re-think the whole subject, and to study, with some care, not only the just and proper rules of legal interpretation, but the origin, design, nature, rights, powers, and duties of civil government.” And from that study came a “radical change in my opinions.”
On July 5th, 1852 he gave a speech entitled “What to a slave is the 4th of July?” Speaking of our founders:
The signer of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too…. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes… Your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you…. Mark them!
They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests.
It’s an amazing speech. Please take a few minutes to read the whole thing here.
And I misspoke this morning. The following poem is from a different speech than the one he gave on the 4th of July. This is from May 11, 1847. I hold this close as the guiding principle of the Tea Party:
Weapons of war we have cast from the battle:
TRUTH is our armor—our watchword is LOVE;
Hushed be the sword, and the musketry’s rattle,
All our equipments are drawn from above.
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In other news, we kicked off the show talking about the differences between a democracy and a republic, and how it’s NOT just a matter of semantics. Understanding the difference between the two is vital in understanding what is unique and exceptional about America.
Here are some of the sources we used today:
Check out Federalist Paper #10 for a longer discussion on this. Here is James Madison.
A pure democracy … can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority, and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party… Hence it is that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
If the guy who wrote the Constitution was against a democracy, he probably didn’t make one when he wrote the Constitution.
John Adams (Read the entire letter here, Page 484)
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
Ayn Rand, “How To Read (and Not to Write)” The Ayn Rand Letter:
“Democratic” in its original meaning [refers to] unlimited majority rule . . . a social system in which one’s work, one’s property, one’s mind, and one’s life are at the mercy of any gang that may muster the vote of a majority at any moment for any purpose.
Leonard Peikoff, The Philosophy of Objectivism:
The American system is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. A democracy, if you attach meaning to terms, is a system of unlimited majority rule; the classic example is ancient Athens. And the symbol of it is the fate of Socrates, who was put to death legally, because the majority didn’t like what he was saying, although he had initiated no force and had violated no one’s rights.
Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom . . . .
The American system is a constitutionally limited republic, restricted to the protection of individual rights. In such a system, majority rule is applicable only to lesser details, such as the selection of certain personnel. But the majority has no say over the basic principles governing the government. It has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights.
