Op 28/04/2020 om 14:55 schreef Norbert Kern:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> 
>> Interesting! I wonder what the term 'democracy' meant to the Founding
>> Fathers... I suppose something godless, inimical to their own faith;
>> after all, they were refugees. I don't think that the modern
>> understanding of 'democracy' remotely corresponds to theirs, except,
>> maybe, in the US? ;-) Certainly, the term 'liberty' means something very
>> different from my own definition when I read about fringe groups like
>> 'preppers'. But then the same can be said about far-right political
>> parties in EU which use the term 'liberty' for their own intentions.
>>
>> --
>> Thomas
> 
> 
> Ah - the far right.
> I germany some say - it feels like germany before the nazis - opressed by strong
> left and right movements. And the middle ground had nothing interesting to offer
> beside empty words.
> If this is true, than the EU as a whole feels like that, especially when looking
> at the coming recession...
> 
> 
> Norbert
> 
I understand your worries although I am (still) fairly optimistic about 
this. Being born in 1946, I certainly watch with some misgivings the 
ease with which far-right opinions are openly distilled into the public 
arena nowadays (not much far-left movements left it seems, comparable to 
them). This was almost unthinkable forty years ago. In itself, this is 
proper democratic functioning, giving a platform to all opinions. And 
yet, there is always the danger of the balance tipping too strongly to 
one side, especially in a time when historical awareness is dimming; 
with the exception of these very days when 75 years of peace in Europe 
are celebrated. An achievement in itself, considering our troubled history.

I cannot refrain from this: :-)
[quote from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/#Lib]


this dictum with his name remains very powerful, and one still hears his 
legacy invoked through the redeclaration of this pronouncement that he 
never actually declared. Part of the deep cultural tie that joins 
Voltaire to this dictum is the fact that even while he did not write 
these precise words, they do capture, however imprecisely, the spirit of 
his philosophy of liberty.
[/quote]


-- 
Thomas

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