The Founding Fathers were very much aware of history. As they were debating the options open to them they made an in depth study of the patterns of thought and action of our ancestors. They looked at the consequences of those actions. Since they knew that they owed a debt to those who went before them they also felt a need to pass on their reasoning. Thus they continued in the Declaration of Independence,
“a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.”
They are going to lay out their reasons for their actions. They wanted it very clear why they were doing what they were doing. This would give people in the future a chance to evaluate the results of their choices.
I wish that the current generation of leaders and followers could understand this concept. Most of the political fixes that are being proposed have been tried before. Most of them led to disaster or at least frustration. One of the brainwashing techniques of post modern educators is to deny people the opportunity to say, “We tried that and it didn’t work.” This is attacked as negative and defeatism. We are told to stop living in the failures of the past and get on board.
Our Founding Fathers knew better. One of their standards was expressed by Edmund Burke who said, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."
Our republic is based on learning from the past not just hoping for the future. The way we help the future is to make a clear record of what has happened and why it happened. The Bill of Rights was still a long way in the future but do “freedom of speech” and “freedom of the press” sound familiar?
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.