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In a message dated 11/22/2000 4:00:36 PM Central Standard Time,
jberentson@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
<< I'm sure that you will agree that the class conscious English are hardly a
manifestation of Locke's principles. You may be unaware that one thing
fomenting the American Revolution was an attempt by the British crown to
introduce titles into the colonies. Our fore fathers took Locke to heart and
were concerned that America would end up reflecting the class values present
at that time in England. To forestall that, they revolted. The genius of the
colonists was in the belief and application of the principles of freedom and
equality.
The English have a glorious history and culture of which you may be justly
proud. However, when, as Winston Churchill did in his "History of the
English Speaking People," you take credit for America's culture and
accomplishments, you perhaps go too far. >>
......then again - perhaps it's the other way around .......
Quote from 'The Crowd' - A Study of the Popular Mind by Gustave Le Bon.
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
".........Moreover, it is no way in the power of a people to really change
its institutions. Undoubtedly, at the cost of violent revolutions, it can
change their name, but in their essence they remain unmodified. The names are
mere futile labels with which an historian who goes to the bottom of things
need scarcely concern himself. It is in this way, for instance, that England
(see footnote), the most democratic country in the world, lives nevertheless,
under a monarchical regime whereas the countries in which the most oppressive
despotism is rampant are the Spanish-American Republics, in spite of their
republican constitutions. The destinies of peoples are determined by their
character and not by their government."
(The following footnote accompanies this paragraph):
"The most advanced republicans, even of the United States, recognize this
fact. The American magazine, The Forum, recently gave categorical expression
to the opinion in terms which I reproduce here from the Review of reviews for
December 1894 -
"It should never be forgotten, even by the most ardent enemies of an
aristocracy, that England is today the most democratic country of the
universe, the country in which the rights of the individual are most
respected and in which the individual possesses the most liberty".
Rgds,
Kim
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