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SPIRIT O' '76
Jul. 5th, 2007 07:44 pmHeh, I seem to have been some combination of too busy and too apathetic to post. Ah, well. Hope it was a good Independence Day for my fellow Americans and a good Wednesday for everyone else.
I watched the film 1776 for the first time last night -- I've been hearing![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
filkerdave, filkertom and others give it accolades for years now -- and quite enjoyed it: It had just the right mix of comedy and gravitas, and managed to convey a profound respect for the Founders' accomplishment while still demythologizing them, portraying them as humans with human failings, pettiness, resentments and vices. Anyway, one line of dialogue, from Georgia delegate Lyman Hall (quoting Burke, as noted), particularly struck me as profound, what I expect from my elected representatives, what can exemplify a constitutional republic at its best ... and what I so seldom get. I don't elect representatives to do my bidding; I elect them to use their judgment to do what's best for the country. As such, when I vote for a candidate, I don't necessarily vote for the one with whom I agree on issues; I vote for the one whose judgment I most respect. (Granted, they often dovetail.)
Anyway, Hall's line: "In trying to resolve my dilemma I remembered something I'd once read, 'that a representative owes the People not only his industry, but his judgment, and he betrays them if he sacrifices it to their opinion.' (smiles) It was written by Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament." (goes to board, registers vote as "yea.")
For pure comedic value, of course, I loved some of John Adams' lines near the beginning. Like this one:
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress!
The more things change, etc. etc.
(I also find it ironic, and satisfying, that actor Howard Da Silva -- a victim of the blacklists of the McCarthy era -- years later portrayed Benjamin Franklin, among the uber-patriots of American history. Take that, Joe.
Words: the first Cerebus collection by Dave Sim
State O'Mind: Grateful
I watched the film 1776 for the first time last night -- I've been hearing
filkerdave, filkertom and others give it accolades for years now -- and quite enjoyed it: It had just the right mix of comedy and gravitas, and managed to convey a profound respect for the Founders' accomplishment while still demythologizing them, portraying them as humans with human failings, pettiness, resentments and vices. Anyway, one line of dialogue, from Georgia delegate Lyman Hall (quoting Burke, as noted), particularly struck me as profound, what I expect from my elected representatives, what can exemplify a constitutional republic at its best ... and what I so seldom get. I don't elect representatives to do my bidding; I elect them to use their judgment to do what's best for the country. As such, when I vote for a candidate, I don't necessarily vote for the one with whom I agree on issues; I vote for the one whose judgment I most respect. (Granted, they often dovetail.)Anyway, Hall's line: "In trying to resolve my dilemma I remembered something I'd once read, 'that a representative owes the People not only his industry, but his judgment, and he betrays them if he sacrifices it to their opinion.' (smiles) It was written by Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament." (goes to board, registers vote as "yea.")
For pure comedic value, of course, I loved some of John Adams' lines near the beginning. Like this one:
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress!
The more things change, etc. etc.
(I also find it ironic, and satisfying, that actor Howard Da Silva -- a victim of the blacklists of the McCarthy era -- years later portrayed Benjamin Franklin, among the uber-patriots of American history. Take that, Joe.
Words: the first Cerebus collection by Dave Sim
State O'Mind: Grateful
