I was bored, so I went to that random quotations page again

[capri0mni]

And I found this:

All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.

John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848)

I love that second bit, especially.

Notably, JQA was the sixth president of America, And the first president didn't have to run for election. This quote is coming from one of the very first people on the planet who had to invent, and find his own way through, our modern political system.

So I find that realistic, but anti-cynical, sentiment especially heartening.

Comments

[antiwesley.livejournal.com]

JQA didn't actually have much to do with early politics... he was only 22 when the Constitution took effect. Washington's first period was a non-elected position, and he ran against someone for his re-election.

The first political parties basically stemmed from the Hamilton/Jefferson fights, where Jefferson favoured the French, whereas Hamilton the British during the first formative years of the government.

By the time Adams was elected, the country had had at least 40 years to establish and screw up the political system.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, yes.

But 40 years is only two generations, and even, back then, still within living memory of the active statesmen. This therefore, in my mind, is early, especially since we're talking about historical trends for everything that has followed.

[antiwesley.livejournal.com]

Well, I think giving JQA a 'statesman' title is a bit stretchy.. he only got into politics mainly because of his father, the first John Adams, so in practice, he was more the first in a line of father/son teams that plague the White House on occasions.

But yes, from a trend standpoint, it is early enough to merit the beginnings of a trend.
JQA was also the last of the Democrat-Republican Presidents as well.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, I think giving JQA a 'statesman' title is a bit stretchy

I did not intend to apply that term to JQA explicitely, but to that whole generation of men who were still working out the logistics of turning the American Ideal into a working political reality (I did use the plural term).

And partly what makes that line so impressive to me is that he was living deep enough within the political system to have first-hand experience with the sticky, messy, sausage-making aspects of it (mixing treacle in with the tar and feathers).