Fwd by Terry Liberty Parker
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Daiell"
To: "LPTexas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Guy HCLP McLendon"; "Terry Parker"
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 11:29 AM
Subject: Independence Proposal Defeated
>From the minutes of the Continental Congress, July
2nd, 1776:
Ye business before ye house being Mr. Lee's
resolution, "That these United Colonies are, and of
right ought to be, free and independent States", a
group of delegates who stileth themselves Ye Reforme
Caucuse" rose to address the assembly.
"This resolution is ye anarchist fringe madness,"
quoth ye Caucuse. "Ye American people wanteth not ye
radical proposals and extremist positions. If we
passeth this resolution, we will fail of reappointment
to ye next session; and no principle is worth giving
up ye public office for."
Ye Caucuse then moved a substitute resolution,
urging ye Crown to levy 1% less of ye taxation without
ye representation. Ye substitute passed.
>From the 2005 Encyclopedia Coloniana:
The Crown ignored the resolution, and opponents of
Independence castigated even the call for a 1%
reduction in taxes levied without representation. The
"Reforme Caucuse", all of whom remarkably naive about
real-world politics, had failed to realize that the
beneficiaries of the status quo would level the
charges of "extremism" and "radicalism" no matter how
tiny any proposed reduction in their gravy train was.
The difference, of course, was that a major change
(Independence) would have been considered worthy of
overcoming the reluctance of the average American to
take actions they had never before taken, whereas a
minute change was hardly worth breaking new ground.
Thus, the call for a minor change made impossible
any major change, and to this day the Caucuse is
scorned as much for their lack of realism as for their
lack of principle.
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