This was an intriguing book for many reasons. First of all, it is a literary classic. The story has been told and retold in books, movies, comics, plays, musicals, poems, songs, etc…
It begs the question we as humans ask about man’s nature; which Dr. Jekyll answered thus –
“That man is not truly one, but truly two.”
The original story by Stevenson does not have a romantic moment in the entire text. There is no love interest; Jekyll does not have one woman and Hyde another. It is also interesting to note that Hyde is not a large or beastly man. He is smaller than Jekyll, so much smaller that he can’t wear Jekyll’s clothing, and has to have his own wardrobe.
“The evil side of my nature, to which I had now transferred the stamping efficacy, was less robust and less developed than the good which I had just deposed. Again, in the course of my life, which had been, after all, nine tenths a life of effort, virtue and control, it had been much less exercised and much less exhausted. And hence, as I think, it came about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry Jekyll.”
Jekyll, like all men, was not perfect, but he tried to be. There was a part of him that was evil, or gave in to evil tendencies, and desires. He lived a generally good and upright life, until he decided that he had to find a way to give into these desires. But he didn’t want to feel the shame, the guilt that goes with living a duplicitous life. So he had to dissociate the two.
"If each, I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil"
Jekyll thought he had found the perfect out. He could do all his evil deeds and give in to all his desires, and feel no regret because it was Edward Hyde that had done them, and Henry Jekyll could continue as an upstanding member of society.
Too late did he learn that you can’t give yourself over to evil without being changed, and without the evil growing. When he describes his feelings when he transformed and committed murder he states:
“But I had voluntarily stripped myself of all those balancing instincts by which even the worst of us continues to walk with some degree of steadiness among temptations; and in my case, to be tempted, however slightly, was to fall.
Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged. With a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow.”
The first time Dr. Jekyll was transformed there was immense pain and anguish, but now:
“The pangs of transformation grew daily less marked”
And I think that is the moral of the story – at least it’s what I got out of it. Yes, there is evil in everyone. But it is a small and a weak thing. It is younger and weaker than our good upstanding selves. The guilt we feel for giving in is a good thing, when the guilt is gone is when we REALLY have to worry. The more often we give in, the less it hurts, and the less control we have to be our good selves. Eventually, if we give in enough, we will lose all control, and all that was good in us will be overthrown; because we let it happen…little by little…day by day.
This book was hard for me. I was an avid opponent of Barack Obama during the campaigns. (I was an even bigger opponent of Joe Biden, but I’ll discuss that later.)
As I read his book written when he was a U.S. Senator from Illinois, I couldn’t help but connect with him. The more I read the more I realized why he was so popular. He’s a very likable guy. He is also a wonderful orator (I first listened to the book on CD before reading it). As he discussed the evils of bipartisan politics I totally agreed with him. He mourned the difficulties and hardships his family had to endure during his career. He spoke of the dishonesty in politics and the need for change. One of my favorite quotes was:
“I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers.”
Some things he spoke of I agreed with and found rather humorous, such as:
“When I see Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity baying across the television screen, I find it hard to take them seriously; I assume that they must be saying what they do primarily to boost book sales or ratings, although I do wonder who would spend their precious evenings with such sourpusses.”
Some things were surprising to see admitted by a politician:
“I also think my party can be smug, detached, and dogmatic at times.”
“Politics today is a business and not a mission, and what passes for debate is little more than spectacle.”
It was shocking to see how much money is needed for a successful campaign, even a local or state campaign. It’s simply ridiculous. How I wish it could be like the days of John Adams when he never solicited a single vote, kissed a single baby, or spoke at a single rally. He let his name speak for itself. Those times are gone, but the longing for them is not.
As a conservative, I found myself noting the passages in his book where he was hypocritical. I laughed sometimes at what he wrote and scorned in his book, because he has since become the object of his own scorn.
Example 1:
He discusses the time when the republicans were trying to get appellate court judges appointed, and the democrats in congress were holding them up. The republicans threatened to use a few tactics to which he said:
“Still, I remember muffling a laugh the first time I heard the term ‘nuclear option.”
I find this funny since that’s exactly what happened recently with the democrats in power and their tactics to pass the health care bill.
Example 2:
He mentions his first meeting with Senator Robert Carlyle Byrd, and mentions the great advice he was given:
“He told me I would do well in the Senate but that I shouldn’t be in too much of a rush – so many senators today become fixated on the White House, not understanding that in the constitutional design it was the Senate that was supreme, the heart and soul of the Republic.”
Once again, I find this funny since he spent only ½ of a term in the senate, and resigned in order to run for President.
My end impression is that he has changed with time. He was always liberal, and will likely never change from his core beliefs. Even though I vehemently disagree with his positions, I can respect a decent and honest man fighting for what he believes in.
My question is now – What is he fighting for? Is it what he believes in, or what he’s told to believe in?
I think President Obama is a good loving father and husband. He is religious, he is educated, and he works harder than the average American. He is very engaging, has a sense of humor, and I would love to have dinner with him and chat. It would be a priceless experience.
He mentions in his book how he knows he has changed. The further you get in politics the easier it is to take the private jet, and accept the big check from the interest group. It’s so much easier than going door to door and driving hours in your car to solicit small donations from individual citizens. I understand the reason politicians change, it’s very hard not to. Unfortunately I believe this hard working man of ideals has let himself go to party politics.
I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing – but that’s why I’m not a politician.
Here are some of my favorite quotations from his book:
“I exercised and read novels, and came to appreciate how the earth rotated around the sun and the seasons came and went without any particular exertions on my part.”
“Whether people were friendly, indifferent, or occasionally hostile, I tried my best to keep my mouth shut, and hear what they had to say.”
“Whether we’re from red states or blue states, we feel in our gut the lack of honesty, rigor, and common sense in our policy debates, and dislike what appears to be a continuous menu of false or cramped choices.”
“I also think my party can be smug, detached, and dogmatic at times.”
“I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers.”
“When I see Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity baying across the television screen, I find it hard to take them seriously; I assume that they must be saying what they do primarily to boost book sales or ratings, although I do wonder who would spend their precious evenings with such sourpusses.”
“What’s troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics – the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem.”
“Democrats aren’t happy with the current situation, since for the moment at least they are on the losing side, dominated by republicans who, thanks to winner take all elections, control every branch of government and feel no need to compromise.”
Speaking of political parties – “Their purpose is not to persuade the other side but to keep their bases agitated and assured of the rightness of their respective causes – and lure just enough new adherents to beat the other side into submission.”
“Politics today is a business and not a mission, and what passes for debate is little more than spectacle.”
Speaking of his college days – “I stopped thinking and slipped into cant; the point at which denunciation of capitalism and American imperialism came too easily, and the freedom from the constraints of monogamy and religion was proclaimed without fully understanding the value of such constraints, and the role of victim was too readily embraced as a means of shedding responsibility, or asserting entitlement, or claiming moral superiority over those not so victimized.”
“After Reagan the lines between Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative, would be drawn in more sharp ideological terms.”
“I am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose.”
“Spend time actually talking to Americans, and you discover that most evangelicals are more tolerant than the media would have us believe, most secularists are more spiritual. Most rich people want the poor to succeed, and most of the poor are both more self-critical and hold higher aspirations than the popular culture allows.”
Speaking of “the values of self-reliance and self-improvement and risk-taking. The values of drive, discipline, temperance, and hard work. The values of thrift and personal responsibility.” “These values are rooted in a basic optimism about life and a faith in free will – a confidence that through pluck and sweat and smarts, each of us can rise above the circumstances of our birth.”
“I offered the further observation that a popular show targeted at teens, in which young people with no visible means of support spend several months getting drunk and jumping naked into hot tubs with strangers, was not ‘the real world.’”
“We long for that most elusive quality in our leaders – the quality of authenticity, of being who you say you are, of possessing a truthfulness that goes beyond words.”
“No one is exempt from the call to find common ground.”
“For in the end laws are just words on a page – words that are sometimes malleable, opaque, as dependent on context and trust as they are in a story or poem or promise to someone, words whose meaning are subject to erosion, sometimes collapsing in the blink of an eye.”
“Still, I remember muffling a laugh the first time I heard the term ‘nuclear option.”
“I doubted that our use of the filibuster would dispel the image of democrats always being on the defensive – a perception that we used the courts and lawyers and procedural tricks to avoid having to win over popular opinion.”
“What the framework of our Constitution can do is…force us into a conversation, a “deliberative democracy” in which all citizens are required to engage in a process of testing their ideas against an external reality, persuading others to their point of view, and building shifting alliances of consent.”
“Whether we are for or against affirmative action, for or against prayer in schools, we must test out our ideals, vision, and values against the realities of a common life, so that over time they may be refined, discarded, or replaced by new ideals, sharper visions, deeper values. Indeed, it is that process, according to Madison, that brought about the Constitution itself.”
“It is an American tradition to attribute the problems with our politics to the quality of our politicians.”
“What every Senator understands is that while it’s easy to make a vote on a complicated piece of legislation look evil and depraved in a thirty-second television commercial, it’s very hard to explain the wisdom of that same vote in less than twenty minutes.”
SENATOR ROBERT CARLYLE BYRD: “He told me I would do well in the Senate but that I shouldn’t be in too much of a rush – so many senators today become fixated on the White House, not understanding that in the constitutional design it was the Senate that was supreme, the heart and soul of the Republic.”
SENATOR DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN: “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts”
RONALD REAGAN: Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."
How did our Federal Government get so big? It’s unconstitutional…literally!
The Constitution of the United States – when’s the last time you read it? I admit that until last night, I’m not sure I had ever read the whole thing. I’m sure I read a few little parts in grade school, and I probably read more in High School while taking the class “American Government,” but I’m still not sure I ever read the whole thing.
While reading it last night, I was literally surprised. There were so many things in there I had never known. When I read the 9th amendment, I suddenly had a flashback to my favorite T.V. show.
My favorite show for years has been “The West Wing.” And one of my favorite episodes concerns the Bill of Rights. In this particular episode the white House staffers are trying to determine the best nominee for the Supreme Court. They have one main concern; the current front-runner (Judge Harrison) doesn’t believe in the right to privacy.
The judge states “Judges are bound to interpret the Constitution within the strict parameters of the text itself. The Constitution doesn’t provide for a right of privacy. The right doesn’t exist.”
A white house staffer states that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th amendments all guarantee privacy – soldiers can’t be quartered in private homes, we are free from unreasonable search and seizure, and from self-incrimination. Doesn’t the right to Privacy live in those passages?
The judge replies “the fact that the framers enumerated those specific protections is all the more reason to believe that they had no intention of making privacy a de facto right.”
Then comes my favorite quote from the white house staffer. “In 1787, there was a sizable block of delegates who were initially opposed to the Bill of Rights. One member of the Georgia delegation had to say by way of opposition: “If we list the set of rights, some fools in the future are going to claim that people are entitled only to those rights enumerated”
Well the judge gets mad about being called a fool by the staffer (and by the state of Georgia,) and they end up appointing another judge to the Supreme Court – but my point is that last quote. I thought it was genius. I started searching for this delegate from Georgia who had talked about “some fools in the future.” I searched high and low until I discovered – it never happened. Aaron Sorkin – the creator of “The West Wing” - made it up. I thought to myself; that’s so sad, it was such a great quote. That’s because it was written for Hollywood. It sounds great as a punch line, because that’s what it was written for.
I forgot about it until last night. I was reading the Constitution. To my surprise I came across almost the exact same phrase right there in the constitution itself, without the “fools” part.
It’s called the 9th amendment:
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
There it is, plain as day. Just because the right isn’t in the constitution, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I was even more amazed when I read the 10th amendment:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Right there it says (in essence) – If we haven’t given a power to the Federal government, or specifically taken it away from the states – then the power belongs to the states and the people.
HOLY COW! I just read the constitution, and guess what I never found – about 90% of all the things the Federal Government is involved in – aren’t there. They are taking powers that are not given to them, and according to the Constitution – that’s illegal. Most recently I am thinking of the huge health care bill that was passed by the Democrats. Whether you think it’s good or bad – there is nothing in the constitution that gives that right to the federal government. The states should decide! Massachusetts did; and they have mandatory health insurance coverage – they required it by law. Because the STATE has that right, not the federal government. I could sit here and type for weeks about things the federal government is involved in that are not listed in the constitution. The framers said explicitly that if they didn’t list a specific right of the citizens – the right still existed. If they didn’t list a power given to the federal government – it DID NOT exist, and was reserved for the States and the people.
For those of you who think I must be ridiculously bored to read the Constitution, it takes about 1 hour. The document is not very long, and it’s written it fairly plain language. It is beautiful in its simplicity.
If only our citizens ever read it – they would be shocked at how much of it is being ignored every day.
With all the recent talk about the "Founding Fathers" - I thought I'd read the book "John Adams" by David McCullough.
I learned that there are great men and women in the world, but they will only become known if given the opportunity. Greatness requires hard times, struggle, amazing potential, and defying overwhelming opposition.
Brief thoughts on the founding fathers as gleaned from this book.
When required - they were amazingly clever, witty, daring, and resilient. But when left to their own, they were men, they had their follies, their faults, and their petty arguments.
George Washington - Perhaps the greatest of all. The man who lost battles, learned from them, and commanded the army that defeated innumerable British with their formidable Navy. He was the unanimous choice for President. After 4 years he did not want a second term, but the electoral college knew that electing anyone else would split the newly formed country apart. He was the only one above party, and seen as the only choice of ALL Americans.
John Adams - Stubborn. He knew what was right, and he was going to do it. He was the driving force of the Senate. John Adams was the voice of Independence. He spoke for hours at a time and did not use notes. He was a voracious reader and knew the law, history, poetry, and could draw from a vast array of mental resources when he spoke. He was often too out spoken. His manner nearly destroyed an alliance with France, and plagued the senate when he was Vice President.
He never campaigned for any position. He never solicited a single vote. When he was nominated for President, he gave no speeches, visited to cities, had no town-hall meetings, and kissed no babies but his own. After being elected he worked with a Vice President and Cabinet from the opposition party, considering it too hard on the country to change the cabinet simply because he didn't agree with them. He was a farmer. When he was President of the United States, it was a position like congress, when not in session - he went home. He farmed every year, at one point while president he went home for 7 months (to the ridicule of his enemies).
He was bashed in the newspapers more than any President in our day. He was commonly referred to as "His Rotundity," as he was short and stout. He shared a love with his wife that surpassed most understanding. From the small glimpse we see from their hundreds of letters, they were intellectual equals, and completely inseparable. When one was without the other - it made them both weaker, more prone to illness, and to letting their bad habits come to the surface (ie - John Adams' temper)
In the end, he was almost sad that he had gone into politics. For now he was nationally known, and ridiculed. He said he should have been a shoemaker, for the local shoemaker was still happy, loved by his family, and respected by all who knew him. (John Adams could never have done this in my opinion. He figured that someone was going to be in positions of political power, and if an upright, honest man didn't do it, then a dishonest man would.
Thomas Jefferson - The soft spoken genius. He was as well versed in politics, history, science, and poetry as John Adams. But he said very little. In his year in the Senate before the writing of the declaration, he contributed little, and rarely made oral arguments. He knew he was smart, but he also knew there were many smart men who came before him, and he saw no reason not to use their writings when appropriate. He did not plagiarize their works, for he never claimed his writing as his own creation. He freely admitted that he combined the works of the giants of the past, and used them in the present. He often said he did not believe in political parties yet he led the first opposition party. While he was Vice President to John Adams, he saw no reason to sit and "babysit" the senate, and instead spent time doing things the way he thought they should be done (mostly undermining everything being done by the President) He did not write or say anything publicly to oppose or insult John Adams, but he did plenty in private. Some of the letters he had written that became public were so scathing that it rent the friendship between himself and John Adams.
He wanted to be an aristocrat. He was in debt his entire life. Though he preached against slavery, he kept slaves to run his estate till the day he died. He had to have the best, every place he lived he would instantly remodel it to be much more grand and ostentatious. He had a HUGE library. When the original Library of Congress was burned by the British, he donated his personal collection of over 7000 books to replace it.
He was quiet yet ambitious. He did what he needed to become president, though it ruined his friendship with John Adams. Not until more than a decade later at the urging of Benjamin Rush did the two begin to speak again. Then their friendship flourished again. Though Adams tried to engage him in debate about many political subjects, he ignored the proddings and replied with comments about his favorite authors: Cicero, Socrates, and Plato.
Benjamin Franklin - infinite wisdom and ingenuity. He was one of the greatest thinkers of his time, and perhaps ever. He was an amazing inventor and an accomplished writer, as well as a diplomat, soldier, scientist, and politician. He wrote great truths under the pseudonym "Poor Richard."
While in France as part of the American delegation, he drove John Adams nearly insane because he lived none of the things he professed. Franklin awoke late, ate too much, stayed up late, and did very little negotiating, but mostly partied and entertained. Frankling taught regularly about the need for virtue in America. if America ever failed, it would be because it's citizens lost their virtue.
Alexander Hamilton - The only good I have to write about him is that George Washington liked him and trusted him. From everything I have read he was a war-monger, a sleazy politician, and he wrote more "yellow journalism" than anyone of his time. While John Adams was president, Hamilton was the one really controlling the Cabinet. He was the Major General of the army, and wanted war so that he could have his glory, as Washington had done.
He died in an honor duel with then Vice President Aaron Burr.
Benjamin Rush
- Ok, this book didn't talk much about him other than mentioning that he
was the catalyst that reformed the friendship between Adams and
Jefferson.
He also happens to be the Father of American Psychiatry.
(oh - and I'm writing a book about him too)
After reading the book and learning about these times through the eyes of John Adams, I am inclined to think as he did. Political Parties are the undoing of America. Mostly because they destroy virtue, and relegate everyone to one extreme or the other. If you are a conservative, you must be a republican, and you must not agree with anything proposed by a democrat. It's preposterous and juvenile. But enough of how much political parties irritate me.
Below are some of my favorite quotes cited in the book.
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Quotations from John Adams:
“There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the Republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader and converting measures in opposition to each other.”
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
“Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.”
“There must be however more employment of the press in favor of government than there has been or the sour, angry, peevish, fretful, lying paragraphs which assail it on every side will make an impression on many weak and ignorant people."
“No man who ever held the office of President would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.”
“I think instead of opposing systematically any administration, running down their character and opposing all their measures, right or wrong, we ought to support every administration as far as we can in justice.”
(Some background info) He was talking about Thomas Jefferson, who had spent the last 4 years as John Adams' Vice President, and spent much of the time slandering and undermining the President. Then Jefferson had beaten him in the election, reversed most of his policies, and “fired” John Adams' son from his appointment as Commissioner of Bankruptcy. Needless to say he did not like Thomas Jefferson at this time, and despite constant letter writing in the past and future; they didn’t write each other for the next 11 years.
“I do not believe that Mr. Jefferson ever hated me. On the contrary, I believe he always liked me: but he detested Hamilton and my whole administration. Then he wished to be President of the United States, and I stood in his way. So he did everything that he could to pull me down. But if I should quarrel with him for that, I might quarrel with every man I have had anything to do with in my entire life. This is human nature…I forgive all my enemies and hope they may find mercy in Heaven. Mr. Jefferson and I have grown old and retired from public life. So we are upon our ancient terms of good will.”
To his grandson John – Son of Nabby
“Have you considered the meaning of that word ‘worthy’? Weigh it well...I had rather you should be worthy possessors of one thousand pounds honestly acquired by your own labor and industry, than of ten millions by banks and tricks. I should rather you be worthy shoemakers than secretaries of states or treasury acquired by libels in newspapers. I had rather you should be worthy makers of brooms and baskets than unworthy presidents of the United States procured by intrigue, factious slander and corruption.”
To his Grandson Charles Francis
“Arouse your courage, be determined to be something in the world”
“You have a fine capacity, my dear boy, if you will exert it. You are responsible to God and man for a fine genius, a talent which is not to be buried in the earth”
Speaking of his son - President John Quincy Adam - trying to deal with an uncivil congress
“Our American chivalry is the worst in all the world. It has no laws, no bounds, no definitions; it seems to be a caprice.”
To his Granddaughter Caroline
"The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough."
"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."
Quotations from Thomas Jefferson:
I am convinced that our own happiness requires that we should continue to mix with the world, and to keep pace with it as it goes.
Senate Manual Rule 17.9 under Order in Debate – “No one is to speak impertinently or beside the question, superfluously or tediously.”
In a letter to John Adams; having run on for several pages about Cicero, Socrates, and the contradictions in Plato he asked: “But why am I dosing you with these antediluvian topics? Because I am glad to have someone to whom they are familiar, and who will not receive them as if dropped from the moon.”
Quotations from Benjamin Franklin
He wrote his own epitaph –
The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author
Quotation from Richard Rumbold – cited by Thomas Jefferson:
“I never could believe that providence had sent a few men into the world ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden.”
