Saturday, April 11, 2009

Change & Reformation

""I knew that there is a manifest, marked distinction, which ill men with ill designs, or weak men incapable of any design, will constantly be confounding,—that is, a marked distinction between change and reformation.
The former alters the substance of the objects themselves, and gets rid of all their essential good as well as of all the accidental evil annexed to them.

Change is novelty; and whether it is to operate any one of the effects of reformation at all, or whether it may not contradict the very principle upon which reformation is desired, cannot be certainly known beforehand. Reform is not a change in the substance or in the primary modification of the object, but a direct application of a remedy to the grievance complained of.

So far as that is removed, all is sure. It stops there; and if it fails, the substance which underwent the operation, at the very worst, is but where it was.""
-Edmund Burke, 1796 (Via Mark Levin's Liberty & Tyranny)

8 comments:

Solameanie said...

Wow. I knew I'd have to buy "The Great One's book.

Where ya been?

RobertDWood said...

Its a great read.

And if you do buy it, I'd recomend hitting the link on the side of this blog. ;)

School picked up some, and I had to reorganize some of the Podcast stuff, and that took some time. That, and there's been to much 'stupid news' going around for me to try and comment to the level I'd like to.
All that, and a lot of time with the girlfriend now.

No2Bpencil said...

Nice to know where I fit in ;)

Gino said...

be careful.

girlfriends can be dangerous.

Jeana said...

So, just for the sake of the high art of analyzing, would ridding the world of particularily yappy dogs fall under change or reform? I mean, "the substance which underwent the operation" would certainly not be "where it was" but "So far as that is removed, all is [quiet]."...

I'm at a loss. :D

Solameanie said...

Tears for Fears had a song called "Change." I am surprised Obama didn't use it for a campaign song.

RobertDWood said...

MaryKate, thanks for dropping in. :D

Gino, I'm being more careful then most, but I'll keep it in mind.

Jeana, I think it would result in a fundamental change. I think the tendency to be yappy is genetic trait resultant from years and years of inbreeding. So, when the bad genes are eliminated from the pool, it results in a change. A good one, but a change nonetheless.

Sola, always there with a song. ;)

Solameanie said...

When you've been affiliated with radio as long as I have, you can't escape the voices (tunes) in your head. It's enough to DRIVE ONE OVER THE EDDDGGEEEE!