George Ball: The United States Should Join the Commonwealth
[George Ball is chairman of W. Atlee Burpee & Co. in Warminster. He can be reached at hordubal@aol.com.]
...Just seven months before the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, its principal author, wrote to an English friend, "Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and, in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America."
Jefferson's love of Britain and passion for American independence sprang from the same sources. The works of the English political philosopher John Locke supplied him with the arguments for inalienable natural rights, including the right to rebel against overreaching governments. Jefferson modified Locke's "life, liberty, and property" to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," lifting the last phrase from Scottish philosopher Henry Home.
Free markets? Thank Adam Smith, another Scot. Limited government? First established by the Magna Carta (1215), English common law, and the English Bill of Rights (1689)....
So, as this Fourth of July approaches, I propose that the United States join the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Commonwealth - the federation of former and current crown territories.
The Commonwealth is not a military juggernaut, like NATO; an exclusive economic clique, like the G8; or a bureaucratic behemoth of democracies, dictatorships, and everything in between, like the United Nations. But it is a "country club" we should belong to....
Read entire article at Philadelphia Inquirer
...Just seven months before the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, its principal author, wrote to an English friend, "Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and, in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America."
Jefferson's love of Britain and passion for American independence sprang from the same sources. The works of the English political philosopher John Locke supplied him with the arguments for inalienable natural rights, including the right to rebel against overreaching governments. Jefferson modified Locke's "life, liberty, and property" to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," lifting the last phrase from Scottish philosopher Henry Home.
Free markets? Thank Adam Smith, another Scot. Limited government? First established by the Magna Carta (1215), English common law, and the English Bill of Rights (1689)....
So, as this Fourth of July approaches, I propose that the United States join the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Commonwealth - the federation of former and current crown territories.
The Commonwealth is not a military juggernaut, like NATO; an exclusive economic clique, like the G8; or a bureaucratic behemoth of democracies, dictatorships, and everything in between, like the United Nations. But it is a "country club" we should belong to....