I’ve already posted the video of John Lewis’ excellent speech at the Charlotte, North Carolina Tea Party. However, you might be interested in the transcript of that speech, particularly given that “Permission is given to read [it] in full, wherever defenders of liberty may gather.” Here’s my favorite bit:
At its heart, the economic and political crisis is a deeper problem–a moral problem. The cause of the crisis today is the worship of need, and the view of man as too stupid to act for his own sake, and worthy of being milked of all his values, to provide for others. This is what we must reject.Do you think that this is a conspiracy to seize your wealth? It is far worse than that. As Ayn Rand wrote, “It is not your wealth that they’re after. Theirs is a conspiracy against the mind, which means: against life and man.”
This is an attempt to seize your life, to destroy your sense of self as an independent human being, and to replace it with a being with no self-esteem and no capacity for individual action–a being doomed to beg for sustenance from an all-powerful ruling elite.
Much to my delight, John Lewis will be speaking at a FROST brunch on May 9th. If you’re in the area, please join us. Here’s the announcement:
Brunch Talk with Dr. John Lewis on “The Greek Lessons for Today’s Crisis of Government”
- Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
- Time: 9:00 am social time; 9:30 am breakfast buffet; 10:30 am to 12:30 pm talk
- Location: West Woods Golf Club, Arvada, Colorado
About “The Greek Lessons for Today’s Crisis of Government”
The crisis of government we face today–out of control spending, non-objective law, and a ruinous foreign policy–is caused by a corruption of the ideas needed to protect individual rights under law. In the fifth century BC the people of Athens faced a similar crisis: a devastating military defeat, financial ruin, and tyranny. The nature of this crisis and how they rose to overcome it is the subject of this talk. The solution involved a renewed commitment to follow their laws and the conceptual and institutional reforms needed to constrain their democracy from acting on whim. This talk will be taken from a forthcoming article, “Constitution and Fundamental Law: The Lesson of Classical Athens,” to appear next fall in the journal Social Philosophy and Policy.
About Dr. John Lewis
John David Lewis received his PhD in Classics from the University of Cambridge. He is visiting associate professor of political science at Duke University. He has been a senior research scholar in history and classics at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, and an Anthem Fellow for Objectivist Scholarship. A writer for The Objective Standard, his books are Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens, and Early Greek Lawgivers.
For the full details, including the cost and RSVP information, please see the announcement.
