On patriotism

Benjamin Franklin is often credited with saying, “Where liberty dwells, there is my country.”  Whether he said it or not, at first listen it would seem to be quite the patriotic sentiment of a great American.  But is it? The origin of the English word patriot is the Greek, patris, which means “fatherland.”  Patriotism, as originally […]

Political liberty, personal virtue

James Madison noted about the American founding that “[i]n Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example … of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the […]