Machiavelli

Such a departure from reading Locke, in which I found a wealth of information yet nothing quotable, I turn to Machiavelli, who writes: "... for there is a gap between how one lives and how one ought to live that anyone who abandons what is done for what ought to be done learns his ruin rather than his preservation: for a man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good. " Now this I like. Often, people who study the Constitution or the American government fail to see why politicians act in a specific way, this quote above describes it perfectly. Lord Chamberlain, in an attempt to stop hostilities before World War 2, flew to Munich to visit Adolf Hitler to appease his territorial expansions in order to avoid war. The result? By May of 1945, Europe was pretty much a bomb crater with isolated houses, huts, and fields still intact. We know war is never good, e.g. loss of life, property, liberty in a state of society, but appeasing it by trying to do the good thing didnt accomplish much there. Here in the U.S., we know what is decent and fair. Can we always follow through on it? The average citizen thinks we can, because we are good and decent people, after all, we're Americans. As is stated above, if we follow that path, we are doomed to come to ruin, at least, thats what we are being told.....

First blog of another semester

Here we start again, another semester of blogging online that makes my life significantly easier. If I had to type a paragraph as opposed to blogging, I'd probably strangle somebody....