Thomas Jefferson:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Laurence Stern:
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
Maya Angelou:
If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.
Michelle Obama:
We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean… and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.
Anton Chekhov:
How pleasant it is to respect people! When I see books, I am not concerned with how the authors loved or played cards; I see only their marvelous works.
Tecumseh:
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.
Thorstein Veblen:
Labor wants pride and joy in doing good work, a sense of making or doing something beautiful or useful – to be treated with dignity and respect as brother and sister.
Aretha Franklin:
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
Peggy Noonan, today in the Wall Street Journal:
It was Ms. Ford’s story that was compelling, but in need of support or corroboration. It did not come.
It was a woman who redeemed the situation, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. In her remarks announcing her vote, she showed a wholly unusual respect for the American people, and for the Senate itself, by actually explaining her thinking. Under intense pressure, her remarks were not about her emotions.
One of the things that distinguishes human beings from beasts is respect.
It’s a shame a large number of leftists would like to see Collins castigated, and lose her office. Agree or disagree with her, she laid out her case.
Respect is important, but let’s at least be honest about Collins. She didn’t lay out her case because she respected the American people. She is a Senator from a state where she has to fend off more extreme people from the right in her primaries, while needing to actually be at least somewhat moderate in order to win the general. She was making sure that she won’t face a primary challenge from the right. To be clear, I am not castigating her, this is just what politicians do if they want to remain in office. I have no idea what she really believes or thinks.
Lose her office? If I lived in her state I would have to look at her record. It looks like Maine has about 28% of its voters registered as Republicans, and she won the last election with 68% of the vote, so it looks as though at least some leftists have been voting for her all along. Time will tell if she managed to please the base enough to win the primary without alienating the middle and the left who vote for her in the general.
Steve
steve, you’re not castigating her, you’re disrepecting her.
Steve:
If you think that “Democrat” is synonymous with “leftist” you need to get out more. Something between a quarter and a third of the Democratic Party can reasonably be called “leftists”. Most are non-ideological, just as is the case with registered Republicans.
Dave- I would guesstimate there is about an 80% chance that anyone who uses the term leftist offhandedly believes that all Democrats are leftists.
PD- A political made a political statement about a political decision. Pointing that out, and that she is now just coincidentally safe from facing a challenge in the primary, is showing disrespect. Got it.
Steve
At least Collins made an argument for their vote. Most of the rest of the Senate had made up their minds the minute his candidacy was announced. Yes, Collins was being political, but in a way that is a lot more positive that set tribal affiliations.