cheapbag214s
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Location: England
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 Posted: Sat 13:30, 03 Aug 2013 Post subject: and if we don't try |
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as to mock it. And mockery is a powerful social force. It's probably why in spite of myself, I laughed at the email about instilling goodness, and why writing these posts has involved a cycle of cringing and revising. Cynicism feeds itself. If we don't think greater virtue can be fostered, then we won't try, and if we don't try, the cynical side of us will be proven right. Is it worth trying to pick ourselves up out of the cynicism?America's founding fathers were brilliant realists by all accounts, but they weren't cynical,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and they didn't mock virtue. For example, in arguing for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, James Madison said, "Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea." (Recall Confucius?) Benjamin Franklin lists thirteen virtues in his autobiography and
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