Tea at Trianon: The Silver Lining of the Shutdown

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

Friday, October 11, 2013

The Silver Lining of the Shutdown

From LRC:

I can’t really mourn too much that the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are unable to continue wreaking regulatory havoc on the little guys due to the government shutdown. In fact, I think a celebration just might be in order. This could be a good chance for folks to see how unnecessary the intervention of the government is in running the minute details of our everyday lives.

94% of the employees of the EPA have been sent home and 45% of the FDA workers have followed them. The mainstream media is on the case, telling readers about the potential deadly consequences of the restrictions being put on these agencies.

In the case of the EPA, staff will not be out there protecting the country from greenhouse gases or inspecting landfills. (Read more.)

Divine Theatre said...: The real issue is a federal budget that doubled in 10 years, unprecedented deficits and a national debt heading toward 100 percent of GDP.

We need grownups at the helm.

Andie; October 11, 2013 at 9:43:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Isn't that the truth.; October 11, 2013 at 7:06:00 PM EDT