“ …You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass…”— John Buchan
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir GCMG GCVO CH PC DL (/ˈbʌxən/; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a British novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. -Wiki
I’ll have to admit, I’m not sure which side is doing the most damage, the barbarians or the civilized.
And of course, in this current era, we have the usual recriminations coming forward about John Buchan.
What would that be?
“In the 21st century, his writing has come under scrutiny for its attitudes towards race. For instance, Roger Kimball states: ‘One cannot read far into the commentary on Buchan, ... before encountering some stiff criticism of some of his attitudes and language. The criticism resolves into three main charges: Buchan was a colonialist, ... Buchan was a racist ... Buchan was an anti-Semite:...’ while an article in the Herald on Buchan's poem 'The Semitic Spirit speaks' concludes that it ‘is poisoned by prejudice’ .” -Wiki
It seems our collective view through “the lens of modern society” has essentially erased the past. Or at least it has erased the parts that the powers that be want erased.
What they have erased is all the things that are a threat to their accumulation of power.
Things like the Bill of Rights.
Things like Contract Law.
Things like a Budget.
Things like Morality.
Things like God.
“No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
“I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have … The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Many more quote from Thomas Jefferson are available, all particularly illuminating, but perhaps one from John F Kennedy is most appropriate.
“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet.”