Replies to post #4044 on A Republic, if you can keep it

[Vexari]

do it and spread the word

America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy..

She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all..

She is the champion and vindicator only of her own..

She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example..

She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom..

~ John Quincy Adams ~ (1767-1848) 6th US President

Source.. Speech before the House of Representatives, July 4, 1821; quoted in William Bonner and Pierre Lemieux (Editors), The Idea of America (Les Belles Lettres, 2003), p. 237

[Vexari]

these are the times that try men's souls

the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will

in this crisis

shrink from the service of their country

but he that stands it now

deserves the love and thanks of man and woman


tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered

yet we have this consolation with us

that the harder the conflict

the more glorious the triumph


what we obtain too cheap

we esteem too lightly


heaven knows how to put a proper price

upon its goods

and it would be strange indeed

if so celestial an article as freedom

should not be highly rated


~ Thomas Paine ~ (1737-1809)

December 19, 1776

Source.. The American Crisis, No. 1