Author Topic: "This I Believe"  (Read 425 times)

fifth_column

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"This I Believe"
« on: July 04, 2023, 05:26:38 PM »
Edward R. Murrow hosted a radio spot called "This I Believe" from 1951-55. (Long before my time.) I knew about the program and have heard a few over the years. I never knew Robert Heinlein did a spot though. I thought this would be a perfect place to share his words:  https://www.heinleinsociety.org/this-i-believe/
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will... The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. ― Frederick Douglass

No American citizen should be willing to accept a government that uses its power against its own people.  -  Catherine Engelbrecht

Pb

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Re: "This I Believe"
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2023, 05:34:14 PM »
I wish I could believe something like that.

JTHunter

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Re: "This I Believe"
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2023, 08:44:08 PM »
An excellent article.  Thanks for posting as I'm a fan of Heinlein's writings.
The question is how many of us. esp. in a large metro area, actually know our neighbors that well anymore?  Where I live is a 4-street deadend subdivision and, while I used to know more of the neighbors when I walked my dogs, with my current mobility issues (and no dog  =( ), I don't deal with more than 4-5 of them anymore.  I know about twice that many but don't really interact with them much.
Sad.
“I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted.  The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”

HankB

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Re: "This I Believe"
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2023, 11:36:27 PM »
I know fewer of my neighbors than I did when I was a youngster.

And despite what RAH wrote, I'm not convinced that most politicians are honest; if they were, we wouldn't have a majority voting in favor of bad laws so often.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

230RN

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Re: "This I Believe"
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2023, 02:48:19 AM »
I think politicians are honest, but most of them have ethics which are based on misguided premises.  More based on the law of the jungle than on any higher principles.  To my mind, the term "public servant" is a joke nowadays.  Perhaps their Nobility Quotient was higher in the days Heinlein was brought up in.

Attrition has dwindled my friends down to a precious few.  My one long-term friend from seventh grade remains, but he lived in New York, me here since the mid-sixties, but we corresponded and 'phoned. I tell ya true, I'm down to one more-or-less close friend in the building. The turnover rate is high in this senior citizen's apartment house due to their passing, moving in with grandkids, moving to assisted living, etc. Frankly, I'm afraid to do much bonding with people and my mobility issues limit that anyway.

Except for my two sons and three nieces and nephews all my close relatives are gone.  My close cousin Bruce passed away about 1-1/2 years ago.

Not a very cheerful post, but I still have a sense of humor and an abiding faith in 99.9% of what our county's inventors did.

Terry, 230RN
« Last Edit: July 06, 2023, 03:13:20 AM by 230RN »
WHATEVER YOUR DEFINITION OF "INFRINGE " IS, YOU SHOULDN'T BE DOING IT.