Subject:
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Re: The Greatest Generation? (and how they changed the Constitution)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 15 Nov 2002 14:58:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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1388 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Mike Petrucelli writes:
> Well now here is a very nice article all the Libertarians in the audience
> should enjoy.
>
> http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=wwi
As unbiased as that piece is, it's worth reflecting on other statements by
Jefferson, such as:
> "Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them
> like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the
> men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did
> to be beyond amendment. . . I know also, that laws and institutions must go
> hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more
> developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths
> disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances,
> institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as
> well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as
> civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous
> ancestors." --from a letter To Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816
In this passage Jefferson states explicitly (and correctly) that no one is
able to predict the needs of the future with any relevance, and that
includes Madison as well as Jefferson himself.
Dave!
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