From: Dehede011@aol.com
Date: Sat Jan 25 2003 - 07:24:08 MST
In a message dated 1/25/2003 6:09:47 AM Central Standard Time,
asa@nada.kth.se writes: Machiavelli argued that a republic would be
strengthened by the conflicts generated through open political participation
and debate. See the direct influence on liberal and dynamist thinking?
Yes, John Taylor Gatto wrote a book about the American school system called
Dumbing Us Down. The book is actually a collection of essays or speeches
that he had given.
In the last section of the book he argues that one of the strengths of
America in her development stages was that the Puritans of New England set up
a dialectic in the way they organized their churches and towns. They made
some horrible mistakes but were steadily "strengthened by the conflicts
generated through open political participation and debate." I quoted you
obviously but if you would, for Gatto's purposes, extend the word political
to include the religious sphere also. As each small town was independent of
the others at the town level, and as exit as well as entry was open, the good
ones gained strength while the weak ones waned. This provided the necessary
feed back mechanism. As a result the section of our country that gave us the
Salem Witch Trials is now considered by many to be the most liberal section
of our country. And it was all done without experts, or outside pressure.
Ron h.
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