continuing with the saga of voltaire; his stay in england proved to be a major turning point in his life. he learned to speak and read english, and became familiar with the works of such famous englishmen as john locke, francis bacon, issac newton, and william shakespeare. he also become personally acquainted with most of the leading english thinkers of the day. voltaire was impressed by shakespeare and by english science and empiricism; but what most impressed him about the english was their political system. english democracy and personal liberties presented a striking contrast to the political conditions which voltaire knew in france. no english lord could issue a 'lettre de cachet' and thereby have voltaire summarily thrown into jail; and if for any reason voltaire were to be detained improperly, a writ of habeas corpus would soon get him released.
when voltaire returned to france, he wrote his first major philosophical work, the lettres philosophiques, usually called letters on the english. that book, which was published in 1734 marks the true beginning of the french enlightenment. in the 'letters on the english,' voltaire presented a generally favorable description of the british political system and of the ideas of john locke and other english thinkers. publication of the book aroused the anger of the french authorities, and voltaire was again forced to leave paris.
he spent the most of the next fifteen years in cirey, in eastern france, where he was the lover of madame du chaltelet, the brilliant and educated wife of a marquis. (
) in 1750, a year after her death, voltaire went to germany at the personal invitation of frederick the great of prussia. he spent three years at frederick's court in potsdam. at first he got along well with the brilliant and intellectual frederick, but eventually they quarrelled and in 1753, voltaire left germany.
after leaving germany, voltaire settled on an estate near geneva, where he could be safe from both the french and prussian kings. however, his liberal views made even switzerland a bit dangerous for him. in 1758, therefore, he moved to a new estate in ferney, near the french-swiss border, where he would have two possible directions in which to flee in case of trouble with the authorities. he stayed there for twenty years, pouring out literary and philosophical works...voltaire had always been a strong believer in religious toleration.
however, when he was in his late sixties, a number of particularly horrifying instances of persecution of protestants occurred in france. aroused and outraged, voltaire dedicated himelf to an intellectual crusade again religious fanatacism. he wrote large numbers of political pamphlets opposing religious intolerance. also, he took to ending all his personal letters with the words 'ecrasez l'infame' which means,'stamp out the infamous thing.' to voltaire, 'the infamous thing' was religious bigotry and fanaticism.
(funny thing is that when he died on may 30, 1778, because of his outspokenness on anticlericalism, he could not receive a christian burial - but he was dug up thirteen years later and reburied in the pantheon in paris). his main thrust was that he was opposed to any form of hereditary rule. it is therefore not surprising that most of his followers came to favor democracy.
anyhew - many things are being challenged in america's democracy today. our forefathers never saw the time that we would actually be at a 'breaking point' in how far freedom can sustain the masses that come here seeking freedom. the economy has a hidden base (not taxed), and yet seems very necessary. on the other hand, it seems not fair that those who are not taxed would have medical care by those who are taxed. we, in effect, would be paying for those who are not citizens (but coming illegally into the country). terrorists can also enter via these means. so, we are in effect - faced with a dillema. to continue to have wide open arms - or to slowly close the arms and become more careful with our goods and services. i personally favor allowing a certain time period (probably the as long as it takes to build the rest of the border wall in arizona) and warn people that after such- and-such a date they will need to prove application for citizenship to remain here legally. if they can prove they have been productive members of society (jobs here) for the months they have lived - i think they should be able to stay -provided that they apply for citizenship. if they have been unable to work, but have been seeking employment/education - i feel that their family members have a responsibility to get them on their feet (until they are citizens) and not the government. if they are criminals - they should be shipped back. i don't mean stealing a piece of bread to eat - but, car theft, etc.
we have had disaster after disaster in our country - so we cannot afford to pay for our own citizens AND those who are not interesting in becoming citizens. we have to make it attractive (that they will know they will not be shipped back if they do prescribed things within a prescribed time limit). this has been the american way ever since our country was founded. that everyone gets an equal chance if they attempt to fit into the society and maintain law and order.
that's how i feel about democracy. i'm glad there are several parties because they balance each other out. if we didn't have democrats, the republicans would go wild. if we didn't have republicans, the democrats would go wild. if we didn't have libertarians, the environment wouldn't matter. if we didn't have conservatives, morality wouldn't be an issue. (i don't think morality is dictated any more than what has been done in the past regarding legal issues and how they are solved). to me, having definate differences and still getting along is the american way. of course, it may not be soon - but i don't really know what will make things better. civil war has never worked to solve things immediately - and with all the natural disasters- who needs a war between hispanic/american or any other form of civil war between parties who do not feel heard. each should take their turn when their respective leaders come to power.
Poll
Topic: Political Quiz