A Message from John Adams

[EXTXOILMAN]

A remarkably prescient commentary by one of our Founders, written 226 years ago. It will sound awfully familiar to those who read it with an open mind...
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John Adams, Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States

1787Works 6:8--9

Suppose a nation, rich and poor, high and low, ten millions in number, all assembled together; not more than one or two millions will have lands, houses, or any personal property; if we take into the account the women and children, or even if we leave them out of the question, a great majority of every nation is wholly destitute of property, except a small quantity of clothes, and a few trifles of other movables. Would Mr. Nedham be responsible that, if all were to be decided by a vote of the majority, the eight or nine millions who have no property, would not think of usurping over the rights of the one or two millions who have? Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shalt not covet," and "Thou shalt not steal," were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.

The Founders' Constitution
Volume 1, Chapter 16, Document 15
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s15.html
The University of Chicago Press
The Works of John Adams. Edited by Charles Francis Adams. 10 vols. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1850--56. See also: Butterfield; Cappon; Warren-Adams Letters
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/found...v1ch16s15.html

[JD Barleycorn]

Not as old but just as wise; Paul Harvey originally broadcast in 1965 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Az0okaHig

[SinsOfTheFlesh]

This is one among many reasons why John Adams is my favorite President. Thanks for sharing.

[joe bloe]

That's amazing. Adam's words are as valid today as they were over two hundred years ago. Human nature doesn't change. I've always thought it was interesting that the only emotion forbidden by the Ten Commandments isn't hatred, it's coveting. Coveting is what liberals feed off of; it's the heart of class warfare.

[acp5762]

They knew even back then, if we didn't play our cards right that Liberty and Freedom would always be hanging in the balance.

[Randy4Candy]

Would that be a mind open enough for convoys of trucks to pass through or the ocean breeze to continue onward uninhibited?

[timpage]

Wow, Adams was a wordy son-of-a-gun, eh? Bunch of $10 words to make a nickel's worth of a point that is obvious to everybody: Ownership of private property is a basic human right.

Interesting. Luckily, nobody is promulgating a movement to eliminate ownership of private property.

[rodog44]

Originally Posted by timpage

Wow, Adams was a wordy son-of-a-gun, eh? Bunch of $10 words to make a nickel's worth of a point that is obvious to everybody: Ownership of private property is a basic human right.

Interesting. Luckily, nobody is promulgating a movement to eliminate ownership of private property.

You socialists will never get it, no matter what. You're takers amd that is all you will ever be.

[timpage]

Oh, I bet I own as much private property as you...maybe more.

Originally Posted by rodog44

You socialists will never get it, no matter what. You're takers amd that is all you will ever be.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by joe bloe

That's amazing. Adam's words are as valid today as they were over two hundred years ago. Human nature doesn't change. I've always thought it was interesting that the only emotion forbidden by the Ten Commandments isn't hatred, it's coveting. Coveting is what liberals feed off of; it's the heart of class warfare.

You Covet a Brain.

[joe bloe]

Originally Posted by WTF

You Covet a Brain.

Is that the same straw man you use in all your arguments?

[WTF]

Originally Posted by joe bloe

Is that the same straw man you use in all your arguments?

Be careful smoking jb, you don't want to set yourself on fire!

[EXTXOILMAN]

Originally Posted by timpage

Wow, Adams was a wordy son-of-a-gun, eh? Bunch of $10 words to make a nickel's worth of a point that is obvious to everybody: Ownership of private property is a basic human right.

Interesting. Luckily, nobody is promulgating a movement to eliminate ownership of private property.

Such a shallow analysis, TP...but what else should we expect, right?? Adam's larger point is the dangers of a dependent culture where the "don't works" outnumber the "do works" and then demand redistribution of the "do works" property, i.e.- land, money, time, effort, intellectual property, etc.

It's not surprising that you have no appreciation for the wisdom and forethought of the Founding Fathers...

[rodog44]

Originally Posted by EXTXOILMAN

Such a shallow analysis, TP...but what else should we expect, right?? Adam's larger point is the dangers of a dependent culture where the "don't works" outnumber the "do works" and then demand redistribution of the "do works" property, i.e.- land, money, time, effort, intellectual property, etc.

It's not surprising that you have no appreciation for the wisdom and forethought of the Founding Fathers...

FUCKING DITTO. VERY WELL SAID.

[SinsOfTheFlesh]

Originally Posted by timpage

Wow, Adams was a wordy son-of-a-gun, eh? Bunch of $10 words to make a nickel's worth of a point that is obvious to everybody: Ownership of private property is a basic human right.

Interesting. Luckily, nobody is promulgating a movement to eliminate ownership of private property.

Tim, look way, way, way up in the sky. See that? That is the point of Adam's message flying way over your head.

Sorry fella, but the gist of Adams' argument was not in fact the idea that property ownership is a basic human right.