18 November 2010

Random Bit of History

"In a vicious cycle, the Federalists became obstructionists because the Republicans cast any opposition as treasonous. Rejecting the concept of the two-party system, the Republicans insisted that they alone expressed the will of the people. Thomas Jefferson explained to William Duane, 'I will not say our party, the term is false and degrading, but our nation will be undone. For the Republicans are the nation.' If the Republicans were the nation, then the Federalists were traitors.

"While urging unitred support for the war, the Republicans gave the Federalists scant reason to cooperate."

Alan Taylor, "The Civil War of 1812" (2010), p. 180.

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Knowledge is warranted belief -- it is the body of belief that we build up because, while living in this world, we've developed good reasons for believing it. What we know, then, is what works -- and it is, necessarily, what has worked for us, each of us individually, as a first approximation. For my other blog, on the struggles for control in the corporate suites, see www.proxypartisans.blogspot.com.