WERE THE FOUNDING FATHERS LIBERTARIANS?

There's not a lot of common ground between Dave Frum & I these days, it seems, so it is with genuine pleasure that I present his most excellent three-part series on the political philosophies and sentiments of the Founding Fathers. Frum writes partly in response to an article by Christopher Beam in New York magazine, who argues that today’s libertarians are closer to power than in any other period since 1776.

But were our Founding Fathers really libertarians?


David writes:

Let me toss in my 5 cents worth on the question of whether the Founders were “libertarians.”

This seems to me a question approximately as meaningful as asking whether the Founders would have preferred Macs or PCs: it exports back into the past an entirely alien mental category.

Libertarianism fuses two ideas, one political, one psychological. The political idea is that the central state should be confined within the narrowest possible limits. The psychological idea is that each person should enjoy the widest possible scope to live as he or she thinks best.

Libertarians see these two ideas as very consistent. But . . .

. . . back in the 18th century, each on its own would have been inaccessible, never mind both together.



Read the rest of this incredible piece in its entirety HERE



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THEMES

Due to current increase in workload and professional constraints, I will not be able to maintain posting to Blog STORMBRINGER on a daily basis. I draw no income from my writings here - none whatsoever - and right about now Blog STORMBRINGER is starting to absorb way too much bandwidth; it's starting to interfere with what pays the bills.







From this point forward, I will post one or two originally crafted "articles" a week; and perhaps two or three cultural "hit pieces" such as this vid clip of Miss Shirley Bassey, singing ballads of praise dedicated to that great warrior and walking Id, James Bond:




Shirley Bassey performing Goldfinger & Diamonds Are Forever for the James Bond Silver Anniversary programm in 1988.



Now may be a good time for an interim summing up . . .


It all started about May of last year . . . Blog STORMBRINGER grew out of guidance from Theo Spark - enfant terrible of the Internet with his excellent Blog Last of the Few. Theo became Blogmeister of STORMBRINGER and continues to advise to this day. Hurrah! for Theo





I don't know how he does it. The guy is great, does great work, and I plan on linking up with him in the UK one of these days.

Here at Blog STORMBRINGER we like Great Britain and all things British (despite my Irish heritage - I'm not a nut or a revolutionary). Theo represents all that is good of the little island that is Great; he's possibly the best thing that came out of England since . . . Led Zeppelin?







STORMBRINGER is about philosophy . . . soldiering . . . honor . . . military history . . . theology . . . current affairs and global security (which is to say the current conflict against the Islamofascists) . . . we take it from Ancient Greece and Rome (with a little bit of the Old Testament thrown in there from a historic point of view) and bring it up to the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist and the anti-Federalist Papers, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address . . . we tie in the struggles of a Free People against the Forces of Tyranny and Oppression . . . throughout the ages . . . and a tidbit here and there from my friends and associates serving overseas in the great Global War on Terror . . .


Name that Drop Zone . . .



This is the correct time for me to thank my good friend David Frum for all the help & support he and his heroic editor Meghashyam Mali have shown me over the past year at his worthy site Frum Forum.
I also wish to offer a gracious "Thank You" to Dave's lovely wife Danielle, for having me as a guest at their home in DC. The Frum guest cottage is a wonderful enclave, from whence I've produced more than one memorable STORMBRINGER post, and Dani can knock together a meal, the best food you could possibly imagine . . .


I especially wish to thank David for the tolerance and patience he shows me; David Frum has taught me to understand that bit, when politicians speak of a colleague across the aisle; "We do not see eye-to-eye on politics, but he is a great friend, and a great human being." This is a Life's lesson of wisdom and understanding that no money can buy . . .


A special thanks also to my buddy, fellow Green Beret "Uncle Jimbo" over at Blackfive . . . the Blackfive Team are great, they do heroic work there against the Forces of Darkness . . .







I would be remiss if I did not mention the many emails I receive from readers, with much blog material, images and links - I thank you all; keep it coming and do not be discouraged if I don't post it right away. I save it all in a couple of special folders and now is the time for me to construct a queue. Like I said, I don't know how Theo does it; I simply do not have the bandwidth.


For now this Science Project will have to move to the back burner because I've got a sh*tload of 25-meter targets popping up like whack-a-mole - like I've told my friends and associates; in my professional life, I'm a sheepdog . . . and the wolves are always out there . . . circling in . . . waiting to make their move . . .