Monday, August 24, 2009.
"We are, heart and soul, friends to the freedom of the press. It is however, the prostituted companion of liberty, and somehow or other, we know not how, its efficient auxiliary. It follows the substance like its shade; but while a man walks erect, he may observe that his shadow is almost always in the dirt. It corrupts, it deceives, it inflames. It strips virtue of her honors, and lends to faction its wildfire and its poisoned arms, and in the end is its own enemy and the usurper's ally, It would be easy to enlarge on its evils. They are in England, they are here, they are everywhere. It is a precious pest, and a necessary mischief, and there would be no liberty without it." --Fisher Ames, Review of the Pamphlet on the State of the British Constitution, 1807.
Tue. 8/25.
"To the haranguers of the populace among the ancients, succeed among the moderns your writers of political pamphlets and news-papers, and your coffee-house talkers." --Benjamin Franklin, Reply to Coffee House Orators, 1767
Wed. 8/26.
"Newspapers ... serve as chimnies to carry off noxious vapors and smoke." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1802
Thu. 8/27.
"The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men." --Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren November 4, 1775
Fri. 8/28.
"It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution." --Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Query 19, 1781
I see the so-called 'newspapers' of today reflect their dreary past: "...a precious pest, and a necessary mischief, and there would be no liberty without it." Ha.
Source: Patriot Post.
Friday, August 28, 2009
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