In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
– John Adams.
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Eternal verities indeed.
Sighhh…..Hear, hear.
Forgive my ignorance but is this the same John Adams who was instrumental in the Declaration of Independence of the United States?
If so; I caught the last hour or so of the Channel 4 drama aired on Saturday evening and I didn’t realise how moving a peice of writing the declaration actually is. At the end of the drama the declaration was read (by alternating characters) and it sent a tingle up my spine.
If not that last was completely off topic and I apologise.
Yes, the very same John Adams. I’m surprised C4 would air something as inflammatory and inciteful as the series in Blighty nowadays.
Many houses in the US are built in factories, they are called mobile homes or manufactured housing. The older were ones were simply called trailer homes, but the newer ones are much nicer and batter built. The entire house can be driven to your property and setup in a day.
Some mobile homes that need to be transported in 2 parts – “double-wides” – are proof that even trailer folks are upwardly mobile and getting richer:)
Some aspects of John Adams would not be considered P.C. today – for example I doubt that his antisemitism got into the series. However, there is a great difference between disliking people and wishing to do them harm – even if it is a difference not understood by “modern” folk (those who can not tell the difference between Churchill and Hitler).
John Adams defended his enemies when they needed to be defended, even if his defence threatened his political reputation – such as defending Redcoats on trial for “murder”.
John Adams was a gruff and bad tempered man, but he would not tolerate the harm being done to people unable to defend themselves – unlike Thomas Jefferson who cheered on the French Revolution and made excuses for the activities of the Revolutionaries.
For political philosophy see Jefferson, for clever schemes see Hamilton – but for dencency, for all his difficult personality, see John Adams.
John Adams would not own slaves even when it was legal in Mass, nor did he steal Indian land or pick other men’s pockets with a taxpayer bailout (Jefferson did all of these things – including accepting a taxpayer bailout one of the three times he went bankrupt).
And for all his gruffness and bad temper, a genuine appeal of “help me, please help me” (even if no words were said and it was in the eyes alone) would never go unresponded to by Adams.
He was very unlike the classic 18th century intellectual the people who boasted endless of their “love” for all of humanity (or “the people”) but would never do anything for individual persons in trouble they came upon. Or, in the case of their great hero Rousseau, even caring for their own children – dumping them in foundling homes because they could not be bothered with them.
I still think that Thomas Jefferson was the better President (and would have voted for him), but John Adams was the better man.
“Sit down, John!
Sit down, John!
For God’s sake, John,
Sit down!”
…Sorry. Your quote is the opening line of the musical “1776,” the movie of which I watched as a child.