If you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the lasting impact of Alexander Hamilton's contributions to the United States as reflected in its current industrial and governmental structure.
George Will's quote suggests that rather than searching for a physical monument to Alexander Hamilton, one should recognize that the effects of his policies and vision are embodied in the modern United States. Hamilton's establishment of a strong central government and economic foundation are credited with shaping the country into a powerful industrial nation, contrasting with the more celebrated legacy of Thomas Jefferson.
In practice
In a discussion about the founding fathers' influences on modern America, this quote can emphasize Hamilton's vital role.
The problem with intelligent-design theory, is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable. Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet - a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.
The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.
Correct thinkers think that 'baseball trivia' is an oxymoron: nothing about baseball is trivial.
Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences.
The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted.
Actually, there is only one first question of government, and it is How should we live? or What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?
I will never forget the bright September day, standing at my desk in the White House, when my young assistant said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center - and then a second one - and a third, the Pentagon.
The Chinamen built the railroad, the Indians saved the Pilgrim,_x000D_ _x000D_ And in return, the Pilgrim killed 'em._x000D_ _x000D_ They call it it Thanksgiving, I call your holiday 'hell-day.'
It is with deep grief I watch the clattering down of the British Empire with all its glories and all the services it has rendered to mankind.
Germany has spent the decades since World War II in national penance for Nazi crimes. America spent the decades after the Civil War transforming Confederate crimes into virtues. It is illegal to fly the Nazi flag in Germany. The Confederate flag is enmeshed in the state flag of Mississippi.
The historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines.
Never to forget the Holocaust was not only against Jews. It was mostly against Jews but it was also against homosexuals, gypsies and, let's not forget, people with disability.
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