"The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth."

That nugget from Cicero, an orator, philospher, lawyer and politician from ancient Roman times who is oft quoted and referenced.

The Evangelical Outpost has found stuff from the man as cogent today as it was more than 2,000 years ago:

Admittedly, theology is more static than politics. However, when I was reading "On the Good Life," by Roman orator Marcus Cicero, I was astounded by the applicability and current relevance of many of the words he wrote over 2,000 years ago to modern America's actions regarding property ownership.

Property ownership is a foundational principle of America. John Adams called property "as surely a right as liberty." The recently passed stimulus bill, I believe, throws the concept of this right out of balance--to own property means being able to afford property. For example, we have the right to bear arms...does that mean the government should buy us all handguns? And what if it bought certain people guns, but not others? Moreover, what if it taxed you more to pay for that other person's new-found property?

Cicero faced a similar scenario in Ancient Rome of politicians destroying the equilibrium, and therefore, the justice, of property ownership. Here are a few things he had to say about it:

"When politicians, enthusiastic to pose as the people's friends, bring forward bills providing for the distribution of property, they intend that the existing owners shall be driven from their homes. Or they propose to excuse borrowers from paying back their debts.

"Men with those views undermine the very foundations on which our commonwealth depends. In the first place, they are shattering the harmony between one element in the State and another, a relationship which cannot possibly survive if debtors are excused from paying their creditor back the sums of money he is entitled to. Furthermore, all politicians who harbour such intentions are aiming a fatal blow at the whole principle of justice; for once rights of property are infringed, this principle is totally undermined."

But how do we keep this from happening when families are losing their homes and their jobs?
It's a shame we didn't listen to Cicero 30 years ago:

"The real answer to the problem is that we must make absolutely certain that private debts do not ever reach proportions which will constitute a national peril. There are various ways of ensuring this. But just to take the money away from the rich creditors and give the debtors something that does not belong to them is no solution at all. For the firmest possible guarantee of a country's security is sound credit...

So the men in charge of our national interests will do well to steer clear of the kind of liberality which involves robbing one man to give to another."

Robin Dembroff has more wisdom from long ago. 

Check it out.  Pass it on.

Comments

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

It’s always amazed me how we ignore the solutions that are available to us through history.