美国开国先贤解释保守主义
作者:MarkLevinShow.com 翻译:九喻
我宁可自由太多而忍受由之带来的麻烦,也不愿自由太少。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
-- Thomas Jefferson
国会没有无限的权力来提供普遍的福利,国会只有具体列出的那些权力。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)
"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated."
-- Thomas Jefferson
联邦政府的权力被具体列出;联邦政府只能在某些场合展开操作,只在界定的有限范围内有合法权力,而不能把控制权扩展到范围之外。
- 詹姆斯-麦迪逊(James Madison),Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention [June 6, 1788]
"[T]he powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its
jurisdiction."
-- James Madison, Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention [June 6, 1788]
...美国政府是被界定的政府,有具体的限定。而不像州政府,州政府的权力更广泛。慈善不是立法规定的政府职责。
- 詹姆斯-麦迪逊(James Madison)
...[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."
--James Madison
...有意见认为应该给法官决定什么法律符合宪法、什么法律不合宪法的权力,不但在他们自己的领域,而且在立法和行政领域,那会把司法部门变成专制机关。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)
"...the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch."
-- Thomas Jefferson
当人们可以通过投票来使自己得到钱的时候,共和的终点也就快到了。
- 本杰明-富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.-- Benjamin Franklin
从没有任何国家毁于贸易,甚至是那些看起来最不划算的贸易。
- 本杰明-富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)
"No nation was ever ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Principles of Trade, 1774
如果是从首都华盛顿下指示,告诉我们何时播种,何时收割,那么很快我们就会寻觅面包了。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)
"Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, 1821
任何社会都是祝福,但政府不是,即便是在它最好的时候也不是祝福;而在政府最不好的时候,就成了必要的魔鬼;当我们遭受那些政府导致的问题时(在没有政府的地方人民可能期待一个政府),我们的痛苦感增加,因为是我们自己打造了让我们痛苦的政府。
- 托马斯-潘恩(Thomas Paine),Common Sense, 1776
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer."
-- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
那些用基本自由来换取一点暂时的安全的人,既不配得到自由,也不配得到安全。
- 本杰明-富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
--Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
那些期望享受自由果实的人,必须象男子汉一样,为自由付出。
- 托马斯-潘恩(Thomas Paine),The American Crisis, No. 4, September 11, 1777
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
-- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 4, September 11, 1777
一旦社会接受这种观念,那就是私有财产不象上帝的法律那样神圣,没有法律和社会正义的力量来保护私有财产,无政府和专制就会到来。如果“不可贪恋别人的财产”和“不可偷盗”不是上天的诫命,它们必须先被接受为不可亵渎的警句,一个社会才有文明和自由。
- 约翰-亚当斯(John Adams)A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."
-- John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787
准备好战争,是维持和平的最佳途径。
- 乔治-华盛顿(George Washington),First Annual Message, January 8, 1790
"To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
-- George Washington, First Annual Message, January 8, 1790
有一个行为...会得到社会的无尽感激,那就是不让法官篡改法律。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson),letter to Edward Livingston, March 25, 1825
"One single object. . . [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Livingston, March 25, 1825
记住,民主从来不长久。很快民主就会自我消耗,以致自杀。还没有一个民主政体能够免除自我灭亡的结局。
- 约翰-亚当斯(John Adams),letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814
"Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
-- John Adams, letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814
因为认为一个人拥有产业,他的先辈得到太多,就夺走他的财产,以分给其他人,而那些人或他们的先辈没有同等的产业或技术,是在任意违犯合众国的第一条原则,即保证每个人可以自由经营自己的产业,并拥有从该产业获得的果实。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson),letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
我赞成帮助穷人,但我在方法上有不同意见。我认为帮助穷人最好的办法,不是让他们的贫困生活变的容易,而是引导他们离开贫困状况,或把他们赶出贫困状况。
- 本杰明-富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin),On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1776
" I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it."
-- Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1776
迫害一个个体的大多数是在犯罪,是在滥用力量,通过法律手段,那群最强大的摧毁了社会的根基。
- 托马斯-杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)
"The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society."
-- Thomas Jefferson
英文:The Founders Explain Conservatism
http://www.marklevinshow.com/foundingfathers.php
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