"Let the [liberals] be moderate in their demands, the [conservatives] not pertinacious in opposing every reform, and government, strengthened by the accession of both parties to it as a center of union, will present to the world a compact body, firmly united to preserve an improving constitution, and to promote the publick happiness."
"Whatever may be our fate with respect to foreign nations, peace and union are the greatest objects at home."
"[If a few reforms are] put immediately into execution... the people seeing, that the house of commons, instead of indulging in so much personal altercation and frivolous panegyrick, is seriously occupied in promoting and improving the welfare of the state, will thankfully receive these presages of better times, and contentedly wait till a longer period shall have put an end to all their grievances."
-- William Frend, excerpts from Peace and Union, 1793
Somehow, William Frend seems really relevant today, as we go forward
from the government shutdown with the clock ticking as we try to hammer
out our new economic plan. He's writing about England in the 1790s, but whether or not you agree with everything he says, or if you think any of it is relevant to the USA today (quite a bit isn't, actually, especially the bits about reforming rotten boroughs and game laws), the entire pamphlet is worth a read. We can learn a lot from the past.
Especially about how our government should strive to promote the common good.
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