Posted by
Bob B on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 12:12:16 PM
"It is a gloomy moment in the history of our country. Not in the lifetime of most men has there been so much grave and deep apprehension; never has the future seemed so incalculable as at this time. The domestic economic situation is in chaos. Our dollar is weak throughout the world. The political cauldron seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. Russia hangs, as usual, like a cloud, dark and silent, upon the horizon. It is a solemn moment. Of our troubles no man has seen the end."
Harper's Magazine 1847
Dare we Hope our beloved land will once again triumph over trouble as it did in the wake of Harper's nineteenth century view?
Or is Change changing our path to that once trod by Rome?
"The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be reduced lest the State become bankrupt. The people should ... work and not depend on government for subsistence."
Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 BC
So you see, some things just don't change much over time, even a very long time. I'll bet that Madison, Adams, Jefferson and that whole crowd understood as much when they formulated the Constitution.