“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.” – Thomas Jefferson (1774)
Flickr Photos
First Principles: The Whole Art of Government Consists In the Art of Being Honest. Only Aim To Do Your Duty, and Mankind Will Give You Credit Where You Fail
Posted in First Principles
Tagged 1774, A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Aim, Consists, Credit, Duty, Fail, First Principles, Government, Honest, Mankind, Whole Art
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: You Don’t Say Loving Because You Grow Old, You Grow Old Because You Stop Loving
“You don’t stop loving because you grow old, you grow old because you stop loving.” – Michael Pritchard
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged 2023, Grow Old, Happy Valentine's Day, Michael Pritchard, Stop Loving, Thought For the Day
Leave a comment
First Principles: Nothing Is So Contagious As Opinion, Especially On Questions Which, Susceptible of Very Different Glosses, Begat In the Mind A Distrust of Itself
“Nothing is so contagious as opinion, especially on questions which, being susceptible of very different glosses, beget in the mind a distrust of itself.” – James Madison (1790)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Contagious, Different Glosses, Distrust, First Principles, James Madison, Mind, Nothing, Opinion, Questions
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: How Did American Capitalism Survive the End of Chattel Slavery?
“Slavery has been a fact of human existence throughout recorded history. Why did it suddenly create capitalism a couple of centuries ago in a few select places, namely the Netherlands, Britain and the American colonies? Why didn’t the Romans create it? The Vikings? The Spanish? It is true that slavery and cotton production played a large role in the American economy, but they weren’t determinative. As Phillip Magness of the American Institute for Economic Research points out, slave-produced cotton and its derivatives accounted for 5 or 6% of GDP prior to the Civil War. … If slavery was the basis of capitalism, one wonders, why did the capitalist North dare wage a war to destroy the seedbed of its own prosperity? Why didn’t the region that was the great source of capitalism win the war based on its superior economic wherewithal rather than getting ground down by a more financially proficient and productive North? Finally, how did American capitalism survive the end of chattel slavery?” – Rich Lowry
Any real student of American history knows that chattel slavery was a tiny percentage of America’s total GDP leading up to the Civil War. Every real student of American history knows that one of the major reasons the North won was it’s tremendous capitalist economy. Why the lies in CRT? Worse yet, why do none of these uber offended proponents of this say nothing about the state of slavery in the world today? What does that look like? I am sure glad someone asked…When do we confront modern slavery and something about what is truly offensive and in our reach to do something about?
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged American Capitalism, American Colonies, American Institute of Economic Research, Britain, Capitalism, Capitalist, Chattel Slavery, Cotton, GDP, Human Existence, Netherlands, North, Prosperity, Recorded History, Rich Lowery, Romans, Slavery, The Spanish, Thought For the Day, Vikings
Leave a comment
Giving Is A Heart Matter
Giving Is A Heart Matter
by Michael Doyle
Church can be satisfying and fun
With all of God's delights to be done
Leaning in for the moments of development
Worship done properly leads to contentment
Unified and faith-filled the church leads
To spiritual sanctification and Godly deeds
Life should be about growing as community
This is how God processes all in the family
When His pastors remain silent to conditions
It's not something polite but requires attention
That there is the need to be direct and live out
Put plainly, the charges for life must be called out
Generosity must be taught from a young age
If our children are to discern as if sages
That giving is natural and preordained as right
To nurture the garden grown from heaven's delight
This stewardship sowing is a gift of the heart
Being dutiful to God's guidance and to not depart
From the standards by which we are meant to live
It's a decision of the heart as to what to give
But what we give, must be given in gratitude
Not as a matter of remembering but with right attitude
Let's not forget to give as we have received
Living in God's freedom and not being deceived
Every one of us has so much to learn and know
In the paths driven by the seeds that we sow
Committed to God in all that we come to do
Surrendered in the good news of grace in you
We are strengthened in our daily commitment
By our blessed sanctification and our contentment
Living remarkedly in a perpetual state of grace
While serving abundantly within God's embrace
It is not something by which anyone can deceive
That it is more blessed to give than to receive
Life is meant to be filled by giving to reveal
This then is rested in the good grace of the tale
Generosity is the very best of love in action
Meant to be the difference that leads to satisfaction
On giving our very best in all we live and do
It is the love of God, impactful for the many and the few
(c) February 12, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Attention, Called Out, Church, Commitment, Community, Contentment, Decision, Delight, Development, Faith-Filled, Family, Fun, Generosity, Giving, God, Grace, Gratitude, Guidance, Heart Matter, Live, Live Out, Love In Action, Pastor, Path, Poetry and Poems, Received, Right Attitude, Sage, Sanctification, Sow, Standards, Stewardship
Leave a comment
First Principles: Government…Should Be Formed To Secure and Enlarge the Exercise of the Natural Rights of Its Members
“Government, in my humble opinion, should be formed to secure and to enlarge the exercise of the natural rights of its members; and every government, which has not this in view, as its principal object, is not a government of the legitimate kind.” – James Wilson (1791)
Thought For the Day: I See Too Plainly Custom Forms Us All. Our Thoughts, Our Morals, Our Most Fixed Belief, Are Consequences of Our Place of Birth
“I see too plainly custom forms us all. Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief, are consequences of our place of birth.” – Aaron Hill, dramatist and writer (10 Feb 1685-1750)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Aaron Hill, All, Belief, Consequence, Custom, Form, Morals, Place of Birth, Plain, Thought For the Day, Thoughts
Leave a comment
God’s Path
God's Path
by Michael Doyle
God's path is one of crystalline clarity
Making easy the hard life lived in sincerity
Before we follow, we much count the cost
Finding our Way forward from being lost
Living then this life of giving takes priority
Thinking out strategically in living out His glory
Putting God first puts the rest into line
This is our theology in living a life divine
Given to the tenth of tithing play out
The 10 percent of Jesus given without doubt
As the first fruits are to be given to God
This should be a natural given and nothing odd
As we give thanks gratefully with open eyes
We meet our savior who splits away our vice
In the rhythm of life we strive ever toward
All that we keep as we move our faith forward
(c) February 11, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Clarity, Cost, Divine, Doubt, Faith, First Fruits, Follow, Forward, Glory, God First, God's Path, Grateful, Hard Life, Line, Living, Lost, Natural, Open Eyes, Poetry and Poems, Priority, Rhythm of Life, Savior, Sincerity, Strive, Theology, Tithe, Vice
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: I Believe That the First Test of A Truly Great Man Is His Humility
“I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own powers. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.” – John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (8 Feb 1819-1900)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Believe, Curious Feeling, Divine, Doubt, Every Other Man, First Test, Great Man, Greatness, Humility, John Ruskin, Merciful, Powers, Thought For the Day, Through
Leave a comment
First Principles: Become Honorable By Being Necessary
“I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good, become honorable by being necessary.” – Nathan Hale, 1776
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Country, Exigencies, Expectation, First Principles, Honorable, Influence, Nathan Hale, Necessary, Pecuniary, Promotion, Public Good, Reward, Service, Useful
Leave a comment
