“The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.”

— Edmund Burke

Burke

I found that quote today at the top of a Washington Post column headlined, “Trump is the demagogue that our Founding Fathers feared.”

You should go read that if you need reminding of why our republic was set up the way it was — for that matter, why our Founders chose a republic, as opposed to (shudder) pure democracy.

As for Burke — one of these days I need to read more about him. I don’t know as much as I should about the politics in Britain at the time of our Revolution. For instance, I have trouble understanding how he could have been the father of modern conservatism when he wasn’t even a Tory.

I read that he was for American independence and Catholic Emancipation, and that he opposed the French Revolution. I’m with him on all those…

Related Posts

• The interesting debate we could have had, under other circumstances
• Freedom as another word
• What does it say about me that I didn’t know what ‘idiot’ meant?
• There’s no excuse for Cruz calling for ‘carpet’ bombing
• Yeah, that’s what I always say about term limits
• What an odd thing to say at this moment in history
• Weak parties, strong partisanship: a poisonous combination
• ‘The Vietnam War,’ Episode 4: ‘Resolve’
• Postwar consensus about U.S. role under fire from all directions
• Editing the Declaration of Independence