ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

First Principles: I Place Economy Among the First and Most Important of Republican Virtues, and Public Debt As the Greatest of the Dangers To Be Feared

“I … place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.” – Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Plumer, 1816

In the Focus and Calm (Are Moments of Truth)

Raven Craig Art Center-Invoking Peace and Focus Prior To Going Back To Studies

In the Focus and Calm (Are Moments of Truth)
by Michael Doyle

There in the focus and calm
Is a remembrance of who you are
It comes back like a twist of balm
That you reach for, no matter how far

Once this fortress has been breached
And the strength of fortitude has been reached
You are taught who to pretend to be
In this conspiracy of illusions that passes for reality

Mirror, mirror on that jaded, faded wall
Who then is really in control of this all
Alone and outnumbered, we make our stands
We are born to bring this crashing down to the last man

It is where we are going and where we are from
The questions that ring that leave us feeling numb
Each of us is searching for a place we can call home
Somewhere outside the cage of this thunder's dome

Someone lies that help is surely on the way
But when it comes down to it, it's up to us to save the day
The city's desperation flows across graffiti walls
Where somewhere beyond the loneliness, courage still calls

(c) December 15, 2022  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Ravenport Reclaimed 2022 - Monomyth: Earth Day 2022

Thought For the Day: Unrestrained Political Authority, Thought It Be Confided To Masses, Cannot Be Trusted Without Positive Limitations

“Unrestrained political authority, though it be confided to masses, cannot be trusted without positive limitations, men in bodies being but an aggregation of the passions, weaknesses and interests of men as individuals.” – American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851

First Principles: Natural Rights Are the Objects For the Protection of Which Society Is Formed and Municipal Laws Established

“Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established.” – Thomas Jefferson (1791)

Thought For the Day: Arbitrary Power Will Have Divided Men of Superior Intelligence Into Two Groups: the Former Will Be Seditious, the Latter Corrupt

“Thus arbitrary power will have divided men of superior intelligence into two groups: the former will be seditious, the latter corrupt.” – Benjamin Constant (1767-1830)

First Principles: The Right To Freedom Being the Gift of God Almighty, It Is Not In the Power of Man to Alienate This Gift, and Voluntarily Become A Slave

“The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.” – Samuel Adams (1772)

Thought For the Day: The Walls of Books Around Me, Dense With the Past, Formed A Kind of Insulation Against the Present World and Its Disasters

“The walls of books around me, dense with the past, formed a kind of insulation against the present world and its disasters.” – Ross Macdonald, novelist (13 Dec 1915-1983)

First Principles: If We Suffer Their Minds To Grovel and Creep In Infancy, They Will Grovel All Their Lives

“It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.” – John Adams (1756)

Thought For the Day: The Preservation of Freedom Is the Protective Reason For Limiting and Decentralizing Governmental Power

“The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power. But there is also a constructive reason. The great advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science or in literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.” – Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

First Principles: Society In Every State Is A Blessing, But Government, Even In Its Best State, Is But A Necessary Evil

“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.” – Thomas Paine (1776)