Denis Patrick Moran Quotes
There are certain things which the average Irish mind will never allow as debatable.
This view generalized to almost all cultures almost defines the essence of conservatism.
Denis Patrick Moran, 1872-1936, Irish Nationalist and Writer, Editor, New Ireland Review, The Philosophy of Irish Ireland, 1905
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The 69th Regiment, the first and original division of the Irish Brigade, has been one of the most decorated and successful American battle units since the Civil War. It was originally formed with Irish Immigrant Volunteers by the authority of the Secretary of War. The Irishmen designed their own regimental battle flag which not only was composed of Irish motifs such as the Harp of Erin, but this was the only text in the red banner but it was in Gaelic. The battle flag could be an Irish Army regimental flag as there is nothing on the flag to identify it with America. Although the flag did not, the brigade did with their blood left on the battlefield of every American war up to today. Ironically, this may be the only national military unit in history who operated with a slogan extolling another country.
Democracy and a republican form of government ran counter to the Chinese customs and failed, with Yuan Shikai taking all power—the “immemorial custom” of the autocratic Mancho and earlier Chinese dynasties. This failure of republican government in China so colored the future Chinese political leadership that both the Communists and Chang’s Kuomintang Nationalist anti-communists were both dictatorial and autocratic with great power lying in military hands. It was only in the later years of the 20th century that the Nationalists began to have a real democracy and although the Communists became avid capitalists and loosened up in terms of economic freedom, they did not feel the Chinese masses were ready to accept anything but the authoritarian political system that was the Chinese “immemorial custom”. They would not risk another collapse of modern government and all the factions fighting for control as in the Republic failure.
This is a great example of the hubris that affects many very successful politicians and erodes there effectiveness and makes them more dictatorial. They delude themselves into believeing that they are an accurte reflection of the people. In this case he absurdly argued that since he was brought up in a working class family and did not spend all his time with intllectuals, he therefore knew the Irish people’s preferences. If such an upbringing qualified a person to know the Irish wants, then there were millions of such in Ireland who grew up that way. And if they all reflected the Irish will, why was there so much disagreement amongst the Irish as with most other people?
