“Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.” -Alexander Hamilton (1787)
Flickr Photos
First Principles: Of Those Men Who Have Over Turned the Liberties of Republics, the Greatest Number Have Begun Their Career By Paying…Court To the People…and Ending Tyrants
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Career, Court, Demagogues, Ending, First Principles, Greatest Number, Liberties, Men, Overturn, Republics, Tyrants
Leave a comment
You Cannot Hurt Me
You Cannot Hurt Me
by Michael Doyle
You cannot hurt me
It's beyond possibility
I am damaged goods
A babe lost in the woods
Of my own heart, my own mind
Like innocence left far behind
Every day I wake up numbed by pain
All of my good intentions, simply in vain
You cannot hurt me
More than I hate myself savagely
Worse than damaged goods
I burnt down my woods
So that there is nothing left to feel
Everything done now feels surreal
The mistakes made echo in my head
And every moment lived, I wish I were dead
Everything worth loving is dead
The monster inside plays in my head
And there is truly nothing left to say
This demon will never go away
(c) August 31, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Babe, Burnt Down, Damaged Goods, Dead, Demon, Echo, Every Moment Lived, Feel, Good Intentions, Hate Myself, Head, Heart, In Vain, Innocence, Left Behind, Loving, Mind, Mistakes, Never Go Away, Nothing Left, Nothing Left To Say, Numbed, Pain, Plays, Poetry and Poems, Possibility, Savagely, Surreal, Unholy Monster, Wish, Woods, Worth, You Cannot Hurt Me
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: The Greatest Sign of Success For A Teacher Is To Be Able To Say, “The Children Are Now Working As If I Did Not Exist”
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.” -Maria Montessori, educator (31 Aug 1870-1952)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Able, Children, Exist, Greatest Sign, Maria Montessori, Success, Teacher, Thought For the Day, Work
Leave a comment
First Principles: Without Freedom of Thought There Can Be No Such Thing As Wisdom; and No Such Thing As Public Liberty, Without Freedom of Speech
“Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.” -Benjamin Franklin (1722)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Benjamin Franklin, First Principles, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, No Such Thing, Public Liberty, Thought, Wisdom
Leave a comment
First Principles: The Mild Voice of Reason…Is…Too Often Drowned…By the Clamors of An Impatient Avidity For Immediate and Immoderate Gain
“The mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain.” – James Madison (1788)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Avidity, Cause, Clamor, Drowned, First Principles, Gain, Immediate and Immoderate, Individuals, Interest, James Madison, Mild Voice, Pleading, Public Bodies, Reason
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: The History of Liberty Has Largely Been the History of Procedural Safeguards
“The history of liberty has largely been the history of procedural safeguards.” – Justice FrankFurter1
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged History, Justice Frankfurter, Largely, Liberty, Procedural Safeguards, Thought For the Day
Leave a comment
The Spiderhead of Practiced Madness
The Spiderhead of Practiced Madness
by Michael Doyle
Forced into our darkest compulsions
We have no sense but to feel revulsion
Slipped needle holds its riddle darkly
The truths revealed are shown starkly
The spider's head feels so libertine
Until examined for what it really means
Injected in the name of arcane science
There is a tripping point that exceeds conscience
Sometimes it's hard to remember who you were
Before the web of life became its blur
And it helps to hear that calm still voice
That reminds us that decisions made are our choice
It's a forced experiment hidden in self-darkness
That encloses each of us with its harshness
Called out like a bingo card that is half-filled
To win or lose is the draw quietly revealed
(c) August 29, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Arcane Science, Bingo Card, Blur, Choice, Compulsion, Conscience, Harshness, Libertine, Madness, Means, Poetry and Poems, Remember, Revealed, Revulsion, Riddle, Self-Darkness, Slipped Needle, Spiderhead, Stark, Still Voice, Tripping Point, Truth, Win Or Lose
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: The Difference Between A Welfare State and A Totalitarian State Is A Matter of Time
“The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time.” – author and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Ayn Rand, Between, Difference, Matter of Time, Thought For the Day, Totalitarian State, Welfare State
Leave a comment
First Principles: The Press Is Impotent When It Abandons Itself To Falsehood, I Leave It To Others To Restore It To Its Strength, By Recalling It Within the Pale of Truth
“The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth.” – Thomas Jefferson (1805)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Abandon, Falsehood, First Principles, Impotent, Leave, Pale of Truth, Press, Recall, Restore, Strength, Thomas Jefferson
Leave a comment
Passing It Down
Passing It Down
by Michael Doyle
Passing it down to the next generation
Hoping it might be held in veneration
Sharing openly our ways of instruction
In hopes that they would avoid destruction
From child to child this is taught
To do as we should and not as we naught
Handed down from mouth to mouth
Across all lands from north to south
The word of God is found in these pages
To provide guidance and the wisdom of sages
The truth will be given obediently
That these things shall yet set us free
All these accounts given us in testimony
Are to teach us the best, delivered from acrimony
This is perhaps our greatest responsibility
For which we all have the deepest accountability
This lifting up is our best and truest story
To be shared in keeping in God's good glory
These instructions are to keep children from tripping up
So that they might sip from victory's cup
We just teach these things and teach them well
So that in each of us, God might dwell
Everything that is true knows God's own touch
This point cannot be pressed upon too much
Training up our children on lessons, they'll grow
So that the love of God is what will best flow
Obeying God is the path of best consequence
Imparting this is the of the strongest relevance
From ignorance to the ways of true wisdom
Is the path of encouragement in this kingdom
Resting in the Lord ever so very patiently
Is the walk we need taken for you and me
Confession is the opening of purest hearts
That we might find that Satan must depart
Paying the wages of our wrong doing
And making it God that we are pursuing
Beginning and ending always with prayer
We add to ourselves layer on deeper layer
Asking only for our blessed sanctification
And knowing that it will bring our satisfaction
(c) August 28, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Accountability, Accounts, Acrimony, All Lands, Beginning and Ending, Confession, Consequence, Destruction, Dwell, Encouragement, Glory, God, Grow, Guidance, Ignorance, Instruction, Kingdom, Layer, Lessons, Lifting Up, Love of God, Mouth-To-Mouth, Next Generation, Obey, Pages, Passing It Down, Patiently, Poetry and Poems, Prayer, Pressed, Purest Hearts, Pursuing, Relevance, Responsibility, Sages, Sanctificaiton, Satan, Satisfaction, Set Us Free, Sip, Taught, Teach, Touch, Tripping Up, True Wisdom, Truth, Veneration, Victory's Cup, Wages, Walk, Word of God, Wrong Doing
Leave a comment
