“Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.”

–James Wilson, Lectures on Law, 1790

Founder’s Quote Daily

licentious: (adj)
1. sexually unrestrained; lascivious; libertine; lewd.
2. unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral.
3. going beyond customary or proper bounds or limits; disregarding rules.

Especially the second definition. Without constraints, how free do you know you are? Or, how do you know what freedoms you do have?

Without liberty, law has no meaning. It doesn’t matter what you do, you are not allowed to do it.

“It is our duty to endeavor always to promote the general good; to do to all as we would be willing to be done by were we in their circumstances; to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. These are some of the laws of nature which every man in the world is bound to observe, and which whoever violates exposes himself to the resentment of mankind, the lashes of his own conscience, and the judgment of Heaven. This plainly shows that the highest state of liberty subjects us to the law of nature and the government of God.”

–Samuel West, On the Right to Rebel Against Governors, 1776

Founder’s Quote Daily

This is one that the current crop of “representatives” needs to read and read and read again until they understand WHY We, the People, are upset with them. Why We, the People, are likely to revolt and toss them all out on their keisters. We may even go so far as to declare our freedom and independence from the current form of government and reboot this experiment.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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Are you wearing red today? I have grown rather fond of my Lightning Polo.

I’ve changed my profile picture to better reflect what I look like right now. I know if it changes in the future, readers will say “huh?” so here’s what is going in the side bar:

And today’s thought:

“[I]t is more convenient to prevent the passage of a law, than to declare it void after it has passed.”

–James Madison, to Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Founder’s Quote Daily

So, the uphill battle to defund and nullify Obamacare is harder now that it’s a law, rather than keeping it from passing in the first place. Even the “representatives” on the Hill are finding out what’s in it (after the conservative blog-o-sphere has been screaming about it since it’s inception) and running away from the Affordable Care Act (that ain’t so affordable after all) as fast as their pork-laden legs will carry them.

There – that ought to be anough to give you something to talk about all weekend.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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And don’t ever let the government – or anyone else – tell you otherwise.

“Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? It is feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American… [T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”

–Tench Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1788

Founder’s Quote Daily

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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“If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.”

–George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

Founder’s Quote Daily

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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We celebrate the 237th year of the existence of this “Experiment in Freedom” – 237 years since the foundation of a representative republic, and it may come crashing down within a decade, since a majority has voted itself largesse from the treasury, in the form of voting for those who have promised to keep the Free Cheese flowing to those who do no work for it.

“This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.”

–Thomas Jefferson, letter to Henry Lee, 1825

Founder’s Quote Daily

Happy Fourth of July. Let’s make sure it’s not the last time we celebrate our freedom, shall we?

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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