America in 1791: Greed and Spectacle

[Robert Urbanek]

Observations by the French author François-René de Chateaubriand, from his 1791 trip to America, as recorded in his book Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, reviewed in National Review, December 19, 2022:

“So long as liberty produces gold, an industrial republic performs wonders; but when the gold is spent or exhausted, the republic loses this love of liberty that is founded not on moral sentiment but originates in a thirst for profit and a passion for industry.”

“The enormous imbalance of wealth is a more serious threat to the spirit of equality than any other.”

“In America, men amuse themselves by leaping into Niagara Falls to the cheering of fifty thousand planters: half-savages who laugh only at the sight of pain and death.”

Same as it ever was.

 

[Confederate Soldier]

So you don't like capitalists or something?

 

[Leweman]

You should use your time machine you have obviously invented to complain to those people.

 

[Godboy]

Weird, i always thought greed was something that we recently invented. Youre telling me greed has ALWAYS existed? Who woulda thought?

 

[fncceo]

When it comes to revolutions ... I will hold the American one to be far superior to the French one ...

 

[Mushroom]

Observations by the French author François-René de Chateaubriand, from his 1791 trip to America, as recorded in his book Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, reviewed in National Review, December 19, 2022:

“So long as liberty produces gold, an industrial republic performs wonders; but when the gold is spent or exhausted, the republic loses this love of liberty that is founded not on moral sentiment but originates in a thirst for profit and a passion for industry.”

“The enormous imbalance of wealth is a more serious threat to the spirit of equality than any other.”

“In America, men amuse themselves by leaping into Niagara Falls to the cheering of fifty thousand planters: half-savages who laugh only at the sight of pain and death.”

Same as it ever was.

You are aware that book was mostly satire, right?

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

Observations by the French author François-René de Chateaubriand, from his 1791 trip to America, as recorded in his book Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, reviewed in National Review, December 19, 2022:

“So long as liberty produces gold, an industrial republic performs wonders; but when the gold is spent or exhausted, the republic loses this love of liberty that is founded not on moral sentiment but originates in a thirst for profit and a passion for industry.”

“The enormous imbalance of wealth is a more serious threat to the spirit of equality than any other.”

“In America, men amuse themselves by leaping into Niagara Falls to the cheering of fifty thousand planters: half-savages who laugh only at the sight of pain and death.”

Same as it ever was.

Interesting concept, except before 1791 the pilgrims landed and almost went extinct because they brought "SOCIALISM" and tried to use it. What is really fucking stupid, is that without capitalism, you right now wouldnt be able to type your stupid shit without the government allowing you to.




he pilgrims’ failed socialist experiment Few realize that New England’s first form of government under the pilgrims was communalism (socialist) where “each produced according to his ability and each received according to his needs,” applied in practice more than two centuries before Karl Marx first penned the above quote.

The pilgrims’ failed socialist experiment - The Independent | New…​

suindependent.com/pilgrims-failed-socialist-experiment/

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

Weird, i always thought greed was something that we recently invented. Youre telling me greed has ALWAYS existed? Who woulda thought?

Notice how the greedy OP wants to take money from others because he is a loser?

 

[Winston]

Interesting concept, except before 1791 the pilgrims landed and almost went extinct because they brought "SOCIALISM" and tried to use it. What is really fucking stupid, is that without capitalism, you right now wouldnt be able to type your stupid shit without the government allowing you to.




he pilgrims’ failed socialist experiment Few realize that New England’s first form of government under the pilgrims was communalism (socialist) where “each produced according to his ability and each received according to his needs,” applied in practice more than two centuries before Karl Marx first penned the above quote.

The pilgrims’ failed socialist experiment - The Independent | New…​

suindependent.com/pilgrims-failed-socialist-experiment/

OMG, not the Pilgrims were socialist bullshit. The Pilgrims were financed by a :stock" company. They were required, by contract, to furnish all the resources they gathered to the "company". In return, the "company" was suppose to supply their needs. Look up the ship "Speedwell". Only when the Pilgrims refused to honor their part of the contract, because the "company" was sure not honoring theirs, did they begin to make progress.

 

[whitehall]

Why is a 250 year old opinion by an obscure French author important? "Democracy is the worst form of government except for other systems that have been tried before"....Churchill.

 

[Robert Urbanek]

Why is a 250 year old opinion by an obscure French author important? "Democracy is the worst form of government except for other systems that have been tried before"....Churchill.

You must have a quarrel then with National Review, the respected conservative magazine that published his comments.

 

[whitehall]

You must have a quarrel then with National Review, the respected conservative magazine that published his comments.

You can get opinions pro and con about the "conservatism" of the N.R. these days. Generally it's an unreadable mish mash of junk that pretends to be in Buckley's arcane political world but fails.

 

[Unkotare]

Observations by the French author François-René de Chateaubriand, from his 1791 trip to America, as recorded in his book Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, reviewed in National Review, December 19, 2022:

“So long as liberty produces gold, an industrial republic performs wonders; but when the gold is spent or exhausted, the republic loses this love of liberty that is founded not on moral sentiment but originates in a thirst for profit and a passion for industry.”

“The enormous imbalance of wealth is a more serious threat to the spirit of equality than any other.”

“In America, men amuse themselves by leaping into Niagara Falls to the cheering of fifty thousand planters: half-savages who laugh only at the sight of pain and death.”

Same as it ever was.

Bullshit

 

[Unkotare]

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote one of the most profound discussions of American democracy in the 19th century. He was particularly impressed by the role of First Amendment freedoms.

www.mtsu.edu