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An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and constantine too easily believed that he should purchase the favour of heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the republic.
-Edward Gibbon
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An Absolute Monarch, Who Is Rich Without

Edward Gibbon
An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and constantine too easily believed that he should purchase the favour of heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the republic.
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More From Edward Gibbon

You may ask what kind of a republic i dream of. let me reply: i dream of a republic independent, free, and democratic, of a republic economically prosperous and yet socially just; in short, of a humane republic which serves the individual and which therefore holds the hope that the individual will serve it in turn. of a republic of well-rounded people, because without such it is impossible to solve any of our problems, human, economic, ecological, social, or political.
Dream Independent People
There are similarities between absolute power and absolute faith: a demand for absolute obedience, a readiness to attempt the impossible, a bias for simple solutionsto cut the knot rather than unravel it, the viewing of compromise as surrender. both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. hence, absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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If exclusive privileges were not granted, and if the financial system would not tend to concentrate wealth, there would be few great fortunes and no quick wealth. when the means of growing rich is divided between a greater number of citizens, wealth will also be more evenly distributed; extreme poverty and extreme wealth would be also rare.
Mean Numbers Would Be
Of one man in especial, beyond anyone else, the citizens of a republic should beware, and that is of the man who appeals to them to support him on the ground that he is hostile to other citizens of the republic, that he will secure for those who elect him, in one shape or another, profit at the expense of other citizens of the republic. it makes no difference whether he appeals to class hatred or class interest, to religious or anti-religious prejudice. the man who makes such an appeal should always be presumed to make it for the sake of furthering his own interest.
Religious Men Class
The attitude of the west and of russia towards a crisis like ukraine is diametrically different. the west is trying to establish the legality of any established border. for russia, ukraine is part of the russian patrimony. a russian state was created around kiev about 1,200 years ago. ukraine itself has been part of russia for 500 years, and i would say most russians consider it part of russian patrimony. the ideal solution would be to have a ukraine like finland or austria that can be a bridge between these two rather than an outpost.
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The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. they find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. the luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess ... it is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.
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