'A Republic, If You Can Keep It'

Today's political leaders might consider what should be America's priorities. These should include incentives to businesses for research and development in advanced technology to "broaden the base" for a "made in America" policy; furthering school choice so that children in disadvantaged areas can have the same opportunity for a good education as children who live in more prosperous areas, and freeing up speech again not to be censored by self-proclaimed "fact-checkers" currently guarding the "henhouse" of the public square. One just needs to remember the words of our founding father Benjamin Franklin, that we will have a Republic -- "if you can keep it." (Photo of Benjamin Franklin by MPI/Getty Images)

The New York Times, on December 8th, 1865, months after the civil war had ended, wrote that if one of America's major political parties had been successful, slavery would have been permanently sustained and many leaders in the United States would have made the ownership of human beings one of America's founding principles.

The article leads us to ask about the larger issues of our current political environment. The report went on to suggest that in America, an ideal party would be "a generous party, who are in favor of the rights of all people."

There have been occasions in American history, The Times, continued where America was not based on "virtues and services" but instead on "theft and murder, and "the oppression of human beings."

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