“We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more — we had no awareness of the real situation… We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” – Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
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Thought For the Day: We Didn’t Love Freedom Enough. And Even More – We Had No Awareness of the Real Situation…We Purely and Simply Deserved Everything That Happened Afterward
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Afterward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Deserve, Enough, Freedom, Happen, Love, No Awareness, Pure, Real Situation, Simple, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: The Injury Which May Possibly Be Done By Defeating A Few Good Laws, Will Be Amply Compensated By the Advantage of Preventing A Number of Bad Ones
“The injury which may possibly be done by defeating a few good laws, will be amply compensated by the advantage of preventing a number of bad ones.” – Alexander Hamilton (1788)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Advantage, Alexander Hamilton, Bad, Compensate, Defeat, Few, First Pinricples, Good Laws, Injury, Number, Possible, Prevent
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The Geometry of Divine Form
The Geometry of Divine Form
by Michael Doyle
Everyone it seems makes their mistakes
But is is the what we do with the heartbreaks
That makes all of the most meaningful difference
A life well lived holds this with reverence
Such is the same even of the great Plato
All else is footnote to what he did know
Having read his works on the great questions
And even he found politics a matter of hesitation
Fatal blindness leads us into these actions
Believing we might make a change with satisfaction
So often seeking glory leads to our own destruction
However well we have heeded our past instruction
Democracy is a viciousness of the worse tyranny
Time and time again this is the course of history
It is better to chase wisdom and to perhaps teach
This is the wisest course into tomorrow's reach
The best course to justice comes by philosopher-king
Writing and studying for whatever tomorrow may bring
But politics is a constant court of the worst slander
The greedy only wish for what helps them as they pander
The corrupt define justice in terms of self-interest
Always to desire more is the path of the commonest
Thread to the ordinary course of self-afflicted government
But it is in no way how justice must be meant
In the cardinal virtues are sound principles found
And the best of humanity must rely on what is sound
Wisdom, justice, courage and lives lived in moderation
Are what deserve exemplification and adoration
Justice is doing onto others what you would have them do
And courage is being brave enough to hold this true
Moderation is about making the right or the best choice
Wisdom is well to live by listening to this principled voice
This is the purpose of the true republican ways
A living perfection by which truth rules the days
The perfection of divine forms is found in geometry
So it is written in the pages of humanity's history
(c) January 20, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Actions, Adoration, Best Choice, Brave Enough, Cardinal Virtues, Change, Common, Constant Court, Corrupt, Courage, Days, Define, Democracy, Desire, Destruction, Difference, Divine Form, Divine Forms, Doing Onto Others, Everyone, Exemplification, Fatal Blindness, Footnote, Geometry, Government, Great Questions, Greedy, Heartbreaks, Heed, History, Humanity, Instruction, Justice, Life Well Lived, Listen, Living Perfection, Meaningful, Meant, Mistakes, Moderation, Pages, Pander, Philosopher-King, Plato, Poetry and Poems, Politics, Principled Voice, Purpose, Republican Ways, Reverence, Right, Satisfaction, Seeking Glory, Self-Afflicted, Self-Interest, Sound Principles, Studying, Teach, Thread, Time, Tomorrow, True, Tyranny, Wisdom, Wisest Course, Worst Slander, Writing, Written
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First Principles: Nil Desperandium – Never Despair…Where There Is A Spark of Patriotic Fire, We Will Rekindle It
“Nil desperandum, — Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.” – Samuel Adams
Posted in First Principles
Tagged All, Dead, First Principles, Motto, Never Despair, Nil Desperandium, Patriotic Fire, Rekindle, Samuel Adams, Spark, You and Me
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Thought For the Day: Don’t Get So Tolerant That You Tolerate Intolerance
“Don’t get so tolerant that you tolerate intolerance.” – Bill Maher, comedian, actor, and writer (b. 20 Jan 1956)
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Tagged Bill Maher, Intolerance, Thought For the Day, Tolerant, Tolerate
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Making Moments Memories
Making Moments Memories
by Michael Doyle
It's the moments
Not selfies that we need
In these times that aren't content
But from these, we can be freed
Like mental orgasms
Crept up on with enthusiasm
Not the dull day of ego
That add up to practically zero
One photo after another
Taken endlessly as if disorder
Run amuck and feeling lifeless
Instead of grasping at the timeless
Scenes of beauty that we live for
Or times of humor, we come to alone
When it comes to centering on self
The ego is best beside itself
Ingratiated with knowing less is more
When it comes to selfie shots we endure
On after an endless onslaught of even more
Until one wonders what one's eyes are opened for
Instead, let's grab us a memory
Moments spent with friends and family
Nobody dies until their memories do
There have never been words heard that are more true
Ignore the joy thieves who would steal
All the beauty and kindness a life reveals
They might criminalize the laughter
From here until the days of ever after
But they cannot exterminate what makes humanity
And the best of this is our living in memory
A smile and a laugh make life more livable
And these are the memories that are unforgettable
Laughter and music are the world's connection
In the tiny moments that come from any direction
These then are the moments that are most vital
Amidst the tears and all else being equal
Every breath and sigh has potential to be memory
This is the intimacy that makes every life holy
Sacred times that some pass off as heedless banality
That make us complete and sacred in their finality
(c) January 19, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Alone, Amuck, Banality, Beauty and Kindness, Center, Complete, Connection, Content, Criminalize, Days, Dies, Direction, Disorder, Dull Day, Ego, Endless, Endure, Enthusiasm, Equal, Ever After, Every Breath and Sigh, Every Life, Exterminate, Eyes, Family, Finality, Freed, Friends, Grab Us A Memory, Grasp, Holy, Humanity, Ignore, Intimacy, Joy Thieves, Laugh, Laughter, Less Is More, Life More Livable, Life Reveals, Lifeless, Living In Memory, Memories, Mental Orgasms, Moments, Music, Need, Onslaught, Opened, Poetry and Poems, Potential, Sacred, Scenes of Beauty, Self, Selfies, Smile, Steal, Tears, Timeless, Times, Times of Humor, Tiny Moments, True, Unforgettable, Vital, Wonder, Words, Zero
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Thought For the Day: Fauci’s Claim That He Himself ‘Represents the Science’ and His Admitted Deceptions of the Public Are Incompatible With Each Other and…Insolent
“Fauci’s political dispositions shape his alarmism and discredited him with a large swath of the country that any viable public-health strategy has to be able to reach. He denounced people for attending college-football games in a region of the country where Covid was in seasonal decline. No outbreak materialized. He’s been under fire from Republican senators and House members and has handled it increasingly poorly — he was caught on a hot mic calling Senator Roger Marshall a ‘moron’ during a Senate hearing last week. Fauci’s claim that he himself ‘represents the science’ and his admitted deceptions of the public are incompatible with each other and intolerably insolent to boot. Most important, they subvert and undermine American self-government. He must go.” – National Review
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Admitted Deceptions, Alarmism, American Self-Government, Claim, College-Football Games, Country, Covid, Discredit, Fauci, Hot Mic, Incompatible, Intolerably Insolent, Moron, National Reivew, Outbreak, Political Dispositions, Public-Health Stategy, Represents the Science, Seasonal Decline, Senate Hearing, Senator Roger Marshall, Shape, Subvert, The Public, Thought For the Day, Undermine
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First Principles: I Know No Safe Depository of the Ultimate Powers of the Society But The People Themselves
“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” – Thomas Jefferson (1820)
First Principles: If Freedom of Speech Is Taken Away, Then Dumb and Silent We May Be Led, Like Sheep To the Slaughter
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” – George Washington
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Tagged Dumb, First Principles, Freedom of Speech, George Washington, Led, Sheep, Silent, Slaughter, Taken
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Thought For the Day: For Whatever Things Were Written Before Were Written For Our Learning, That We…Might Have Hope
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” – Romans 15:4
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Comfort, Hope, Learning, Patience, Romans 15:4, Scriptures, Thought For the Day, Whatever Things, Written
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