Thread by @SethCotlar

A phrase to conjure with from John Winthrop's 1630 sermon, A Model of Christian Charity:
"it is a true rule that particular estates cannot subsist in the ruin of the public." 1/

I probably first read this text 30 years ago, but this time around (as inspired by this new book by Dan Rodgers) this particular phase had new resonance. 2/ books.google.com/books/about/As…

I would paraphrase it thus: "it doesn't matter how rich you are, life in a failed state sucks. So don't be a selfish ass." 3/

There are worse ways to describe post WWII conservatism than as a "concerted effort to ruin/undermine the public." From the opposition to taxation (which funds public efforts), to the refusal to fund public education at all levels... 4/

...to the retreat from funding shared goods like public pools, public golf courses, public transportation, etc...to the systematic efforts to dismantle the regulatory agencies that protect the air, water, climate, and soil upon which the public depends... 5/

...and now to the fact that the conservative movement has delivered to the nation the least public spirited and the most divisive, vituperative, spiteful, and narcissistic President in the history of the US. 6/

Nonetheless, Trump and his wealthy friends seem fairly confident that their "particular estates" can withstand the ruination (or plundering) of the public. Winthrop can't save us, but he can at least shake his head knowingly. 7/

The great irony, of course, is that Winthrop's famous "City on a Hill" sermon was not a significant, canonical part of American culture until the 1980s when the hero of the American Conservative Movement, Ronald Reagan, made it a centerpiece of his presidential rhetoric.

Winthrop is just one among a large and diverse pool of past residents of North America who merit our attention because they articulated ideas worth considering closely. He's not "the first" of anything...but he's there, if we care to listen.