What America’s Founders Learned From Greeks, Romans | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Author Thomas Ricks continues discussing his new book 'First Principles' and what role religion played in the founding of America. Aired on 11/9/2020.
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What America's Founders Learned From Greeks, Romans | Morning Joe | MSNBC

63 comments

    1. @judie suh I think we have to wait a not jump the gun. People are celebrating right now and if something comes up and changes things how will they handle it mentally.. they will be far more hurt than before , the mind can’t take this sort of thing.

    2. @None Given With the firing of the secretary of the army today China can invade Taiwan while the US is distracted with trumps bs …. then he can declare a state of war and stay in office

    1. Pls… can’t wait to read the destructive havoc tRump perpetrated onto US while lodging rent free the last 4years in our WH along with his grifting adult children

    2. No more escape routes for them taxes either.Now we know about them and being president can’t protect him now.I didn’t vote for him,but I was still promised better tax cuts.

  1. Congratulations all ya American brothers out there!!! At last you people made Biden win👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

    1. @Stuck Case What I saw these past four years is a power and money grab, but that’s not from Soros, or Hilary. It’s from 45. I still believe my own senses. Sure, question everything. But Joe is a good man, I hope you’ll be able to see it.

    2. @Helene Flamand good luck friend. I have no faith in him. I feel he is as fake as 3 dollar bill. We didn’t have much choice in this election

    3. @Helene Flamand 4 years of pinned back ears and snarled teeth—short term memory—the left thru everything at this guy—I’ll pass—Joe gets no reprieve

  2. Breaking News! Breaking News! Speaking of “stupid” Dr. Ben Carson just came down & caught Covi-19. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

  3. Thomas Ricks points out the crux of America’s democracy problem: we are being ruled and governed by an oligarchy. Campaign finance laws, among other policies, enable this.

    1. Don’t expect any structural changes from Joe Biden. Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, was told in no uncertain terms by Wolfgang Schäuble “we can’t allow elections to change fiscal policy.”
      We have central banker occupation of democracy in both the EU and US. Why did Obama win Indiana and Ohio in 2008? Certainly not to later have Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner pull off one of the biggest bank heists in history. This is a crisis that’s been absurdly allowed to go on since the 1840’s.. and it just keeps getting worse.
      Trumpism for some is a confused expression of destructive nihilism in the face of an unreformable system – a system that doesn’t even want to acknowledge it needs reform, but rather “a return to normalcy.”
      “Yanis Varoufakis: Is Capitalism Devouring Democracy?” Harvard didn’t have a School of Economics in the 19th Century. That tells you a lot about this so called new “science.”
      https://youtu.be/gGeevtdp1WQ

  4. When the rich control the state of affairs you have an oligarchy or a shadow oligarchy pulling the strings.

    1. But that’s been going on for years. I think it was Regan that brought it out. Maybe before. But I’m sure they are glad the attention is off of them. We were suggesting a Dr. Zhivago.

    2. @John James 🤥 what do think, what got Trump into the position to run for president in the first place. He’s a Spawn of the elite Millionaire Billionaire club he thinks and acts along their line of interests you don’t even need puppet strings for him because he’s not a politician that had to be groomed over time.

    3. Covid is the absolute quintessential example of Sun Tzus art of War—perfectly executed. Never have I read, or seen a more perfect example of attacking an adversary without firing a single round or dropping a single bomb. The Chinese govt has elected its first American president. Congrats

  5. I’ve always said this to people who would say the USA was founded on the Bible. The USA was founded on evolving concepts of Greek democracy and Roman republicanism. The Fasces, Latin for bundle, are on the wall of the House of representatives symbolizing rods bundled together can’t be broken but a single rod can. You can’t get any more Roman than that.

    1. Actually the Fasces are an axe surrounded by sticks, used by Roman ‘sheriff’s’ who dispensed the law(kinda like Judge Dredd from that movie); hence the term Fascist, a strongman with ultimate power. Nothing to do with one stick vs. many.

    2. @Tidbit That’s not correct; in ancient Rome, Fasces were carried by honor guards for high ranking officials , their carriers were not involved in law enforcement .
      The modern term Fascist is based on the same common word , but there’s was no connection to the Roman empire until Mussonlini used the symbol for his purpose – after the term Fascist had been used for a century .

    3. @horsterer77 Yes, they were involved in law enforcement, which is why the fasces were carried by guards later, as a symbol of their power to dish out whatever justice they pleased. The term fascist came out of this idea of a person who has ultimate power, the idea that a nation should be controlled by one man with all the power.

    4. @Tidbit Well, it’s a bit off-topic by now, but I still have to disagree .
      I’ve been an avid student of ancient Greece and Rome since my childhood – which doesn’t make me an expert .

      But to the best of my knowledge, Fasces were ceremonial and so was the role of their carriers .
      The fasces did symbolize the power of the dignitaries they were assigned to , but those guards were assigned by the Roman Senate .
      They couldn’t even have the axes in their Faces inside the city walls, as even the most powerful politician couldn’t order physical violence to be used inside Rome .

      This changed when legal emergency dictatorship turned into emperor rule, and the conventions were used however the man in charged decided to – but the ceremonial nature of the Faces carriers remained .

      Maybe you confuse them with the Praetorian Guard ?

  6. Q: What do you call a Disney character who only has 73 days left to finish the worse movie in American history?
    A: Donald Lame Duck (“I lost, so it’s a fraud.” No, no, no. You’re a fraud, so you lost).

    1. Covid is the absolute quintessential example of Sun Tzus art of War—perfectly executed. Never have I read, or seen a more perfect example of attacking an adversary without firing a single round or dropping a single bomb. The Chinese govt has elected its first American president. Congrats

    1. Trump: If you vote Biden, ” There will be no oil. There will be no God. There will be no guns.” … Sounds like a recipe for World peace.

    2. @John James https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/jeffersons-religious-beliefs “Finally, in retirement, Jefferson set out to rework the “Philosophy” by taking four copies of the Gospels – in English, French, Latin, and Greek – and literally cutting-out with a razor those parts that he thought to be the legitimate teachings of Jesus, devoid of miracles and the resurrection. This work, entitled by Jefferson “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” is commonly referred to as the “Jefferson Bible.”

    3. @John James you obviously did not read the link, plus “you’ve got nothing” is not an educated reply. Its an absurd response. Either explain how Monticello is wrong about Jefferson’s own written words on the moral example of Christ and his own belief in the importance of the Bible as a historical and moral document.

      “Setting aside his own abridgment, Jefferson did support the Virginia Bible Society in its efforts to ensure that any family in Virginia unable to afford a Bible could obtain one. He believed that the Bible contained useful lessons, in spite of its corruptions. At the same time, given his commitment to allow people to form their own religious beliefs, Jefferson pointedly argued that the Bible should be kept out of the hands of children, only made available after their own ability to reason independently had been established through study of history and philosophy”

      On making sure every family in Virginia could have a Bible for use.
      “I therefore inclose you chearfully an order on Messrs Gibson and Jefferson for 50.D. for the purposes of the society, sincerely agreeing with you that there never was a more pure & sublime system of morality delivered to man than is to be found in the four evangelists.” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0105

  7. Notice how these men talk, they listen, don’t try to prevail and don’t talk over each other. That’s how intelligent people interact. Just saying

    1. Intelligent people don’t treat a legal text like holy scripture. The USA’s reverence for its constitution is unhealthy and counterproductive you need to be able to change a legal text if it no longer reflects society after a few centuries, not just amend it.

    2. @JerehmiaBoaz True , the constitution was never meant to be written in stone , it is supposed to be a living document that can evolve with the times

  8. I’m sure most would find this segment dull and dry, but after 70 million voters failed the Donald Trump test, a reeducation on America’s founding principles and the Constitution is an absolute must.

    1. Covid is the absolute quintessential example of Sun Tzus art of War—perfectly executed. Never have I read, or seen a more perfect example of attacking an adversary without firing a single round or dropping a single bomb. The Chinese govt has elected its first American president. Congrats

    2. @Stuck Case you’re stuck in fantasy land if you believe the COVID was a global scale WMD attack designed to overthrow Trump. I mean, that’s shear cuckoo only capable by the likes of MAGA Nation, right there.

    3. @Ken Simmons no sir, a lifetime of study. The timing, execution, cover up, and now cure. Perfect Sun Tzu. Could not be more stern in my position. If you would follow my posts you would see that I expounded this in February. It could not have been better executed. My hat is off to the Mandarin Masters who perpetrated this. They were taught by true masters of Sun Tzus Art of War

    4. @Ken SimmonsXi is super intelligent. You honestly believe that at of all of the candidates you saw in the DNC that Joe was the best? He is bought and paid for. His message from the start was clear—-Covid—the Sun Tzu approach of deception by appearing to be innocent—the attacks by Joe to take the repercussions from China to Trump is classic—any scholar worth their salt in the Art of War could write volumes on this very election and its close parallels to Sun Tzu

    1. It’s the first time in my life that i feel my voice and vote made an impact! As a 53 year old American Woman, I feel so proud! 😁

  9. I think this short clip finally says out loud how the US has evolved, or maybe devolved is a better term, to something quite different from what your founding fathers expected to create.

    As the author said, he thinks the founding fathers would be quite horrified at the current state of the United States; see 4:59 onwards the author talks about campaign finance and how the SC has been shaped by Conservative forces.

    Short but an interesting conversation. I doubt many Americans would understand that the US of today is nothing how your founding fathers dreamed it would be.

  10. Thank you! Mr.Joe Biden and your best friends: Kamala, Obama,… Control Covid to save U.S and This Earth! 🗽🌎

    1. Covid is the absolute quintessential example of Sun Tzus art of War—perfectly executed. Never have I read, or seen a more perfect example of attacking an adversary without firing a single round or dropping a single bomb. The Chinese govt has elected its first American president. Congrats

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