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Another Perspective
Accuracy Is Desirable
In 1837, a henpecked Jefferson Jackson, husband of a volcano known as Marjory ("yellin' and screamin'") Jackson and proprietor of the Crossroads Tea Shop in Crossroads, Tennessee, whispered to a frightened employee, "It takes a man with courage to make Marjory tea."
His remark, which has come down to us as "It takes one brave man to make a majority," has been attributed regularly to Andrew Jackson and occasionally to Thomas Jefferson. The attribution is false -- as is the entire story about Jefferson Jackson from Crossroads, neither of which existed. There appears to be no record of either Andrew Jackson's or Thomas Jefferson's having made the remark.
But should we let the truth stand in the way of a good story -- or a good quote? Ronald Reagan used the "one brave man" quote in a radio address discussing the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, though he may not have known it was phony.
Another frequently used bogus quote is attributed to Alexander Tytler, an 18th-century writer and lawyer, who is a popular resource for conservatives. He is said to have said: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
Tytler is also credited with the observation that the world's civilizations arc "from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back to bondage."
But once again, there doesn't appear to be any evidence that it was Tytler's formulation.
An article titled "The Truth About Tytler" by Loren Collins purports to tell the full story about both quotes. Collins writes: "With regard to the first quoted paragraph, the Library of Congress' Respectfully Quoted writes, 'Attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee. Unverified.' The quote, however, appears in no published work of Tytler's. And with regard to the second [the "trajectory" quote], the same book says 'Author unknown. Attributed to Benjamin Disraeli. Unverified.'"
There's another problem with the "Tytler" quote: do we really think it's true? Is a democracy always temporary in nature? Whether American democracy, which has lasted for more than 200 years, is temporary or not depends on your time frame. In the long run, Keynes said, we're all dead. But in the meantime, American democracy -- it is accurate and desirable to say -- has been and continues to be an anchor of hope in a tempestuous world.
Milton Friedman said, or is said to have said (we must learn to be careful), "Accuracy is desirable." Conservatives, who take truth seriously -- and whose inaccuracies the media tend not to forgive -- have to remember that although the Internet is a sea of information, it is not without shoals of inaccuracies.
It is understandably tempting to bolster an argument with quotes heavy with the patina of lineage even if it means every now and then having to flash a poetic license to the accuracy police. Of course, if you're president, they may not pull you over. After President George H. W. Bush tripped, stumbled, and fell trying to pronounce "Demosthenes" in a speech, a wrathful presidential aid instructed the speechwriter, "Next time, damn it, write 'Plato'."
Or Tytler.
Conservatives might ask, next time they're tempted to use the "Tytler" quote or the "one brave man" quote, why quote at all? Isn't now the time to roll a new generation of hoary phrases?
After all, as Jefferson Jackson is said to have said to his wife Marjory one afternoon at the Crossroads Tea Shop in Crossroads, Tennessee, "If not us, who? If not now, when?"
Comments
Leave a Comment
Deborah| 3.9.09 @ 7:15AM
I was looking for the author of the quote about those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it...to my dismay it was quoted several different ways, mostly attributed to Santayana. The most accurate (maybe) that I could find said the quote was actually, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Who knew? I opted to use my own version, call it a cliche (one that's true) and left off attribution. A dilemma!
Alice Moore| 3.9.09 @ 8:02AM
There also is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln about gov't confiscation of wealth.
Dave| 3.9.09 @ 8:52AM
MONDAY QUIZ --
Find the accurate quote:
(a) "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky ..."
(b) "I may not have had sexual relations with that woman, Miss lewinsky ..."
(c) "I probably didn't have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky ..."
(d) (uhh-err) ... Hey, how 'bout them Mets?
After completing test, turn paper over, sit quitely and try not to snicker.
Daniel H. Fernald| 3.9.09 @ 9:38AM
Hi Deborah,
FYI, the quote comes from George Santayana's "Life of Reason," toward the end of Chapter 10 of Book I. (George Santayana, "The Life of Reason," Charles Scribner's Sons (New York: 1954), p. 82.)
Santayana became one of my favorite non-Christian philosophers when I was a grad student working on my Ph.D. many moons ago . . .
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
This quotation is usually taken out of context. Santayana was not making some grandiose claim about geopolitics of the like; he was rather making a fairly straightforward, almost tautological, claim about the development of human consciousness.
Great book. Great author. Brilliant writer. Transcendent intellect--he was not a Christian but knew the Bible better than even a right-wing, knuckle-dragger Bible-banger like me. :-)
Cheers!
Deborah| 3.9.09 @ 11:59AM
Thanks for the history lesson, Daniel. Where were you a couple of days ago! :)
Have a good day.
Philosophy 101| 3.9.09 @ 1:29PM
Aristotle provided the sage words on the demise of democracies.
Obama Rules| 3.9.09 @ 3:05PM
No matter where you go from here, you'll hit a dead end. Conservatism is dead. Long live liberalism!
BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!
Jay D. Homnick| 3.9.09 @ 4:43PM
None of the readers seem to have picked up on the last quote, so I expect Daniel will be glad for me to fill in the blank.
The quote (much used by Reagan, with Time Magazine laughably befuddled as to origin) comes from the Mishna, in Fathers Ch. 1.
Here is the complete version, as translated by me:
"Hillel said, be among the students of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and steering them toward correct guidance.
He often said, he who is haughty with his name will lose his good name, he who does not grow will dwindle, he who does not study deserves to die and he who uses the Bible as a crown will be replaced (in the world).
He often said, If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am alone, what am I? And if not now, when?"
Robert Pinkerton| 3.9.09 @ 5:24PM
Re the supposed Tyler quote: One of the arguments of Pareto's The Mind and Society, is that (condensed and paraphrased for brevity's sake) the democratic republic is equivalent to a metamorphic precursor (as in larva to bug or tadpole to frog) of the plutocratic oligarchy.
Robert Rosencrans| 3.9.09 @ 6:34PM
Here's one of my favorites. I don't care where it came from or who first put it forth. It's true. Therefore it's something to be cherished as you look at the scum pond on Capital Hill.
"No man, woman or child is safe, while Congress is in session."
Obama Tools| 3.9.09 @ 9:08PM
Liberalism ends in Dictatorship, the most conservative government of them all.
frankg| 3.10.09 @ 2:48AM
Liberalism can only operate in the dark., progress with lies, cover up its day to daily functions with control of the media, rewriting of history, and destruction of any who disagree with its policies. In the end it crumbles, is hated and despised, and celebrated for its death. Just ask the Poles about the death of the communist utopia and the fall of the soviet paradise.
Deborah| 3.10.09 @ 5:26AM
Great short film as a primer to the forms of government (or lack thereof) can be found here: www.flixxy.com/political-systems.htm ...Let's all learn the progression of government and what the difference is between a "democracy" and a "republic." Then, email it to your kids (who aren't learning anything like this in school).
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