Tea at Trianon: Becoming Uzbekistan

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Becoming Uzbekistan

Some commentary by Fred Reed.

In America, the Constitution is largely and increasingly ignored by the government. Constitutionally the three branches of government are co-equal, but in practice the Supreme Court is of little consequence and Congress is the action arm of a corporate oligarchy. Constitutionally Congress must declare war, but now the president sends combat troops wherever he pleases and Congress reads about it in the Washington Post. The president can order citizens murdered, ignore habeas corpus, monitor and store email. The government can search you at will with no pretense of probable cause. Third World. (Read entire post.)

May said...: The Supreme Court "of little consequence"? I think that the millions upon millions of children butchered thanks to Roe v. Wade would disagree. The Court has usurped legislative powers from the states and the sovereign people.; April 4, 2012 at 11:41:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, but the ruling was made more than 30 years ago. So much has changed since then. Let's hope the Court has the same clout to overturn Obama care.; April 4, 2012 at 5:04:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Also, that statement has to be read in context of the entire article, which is a bit tongue-in-cheek, yet showing how we are on the way to becoming like a Third World country.; April 4, 2012 at 5:06:00 PM EDT
May said...: I understand, but it needs to be emphasized that the Court has played an essential role in the dismantling of constitutional government, by violating the natural right to life of innocent human beings that the Constitution is intended to protect. Since the right to life is the precondition of all our other rights, in principle Roe abolished the entire Constitution at a single stroke. The rest of the nonsense follows logically in this context.; April 4, 2012 at 6:26:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: That's true, it did.; April 4, 2012 at 9:04:00 PM EDT