metonymy4u

Classical liberalism, the doctrine which founded this country, has many problems, not the least of which are its assumptions about basic human nature (“solitary, poor, nasty, and brutish”). However, one cannot seek to establish a natural rights republic without believing in something like progress. To wit:

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

–Thomas Jefferson