The Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor, U.S. (Photo Wiki-Commons, by Elcobbola. Creative Commons Usage License.)
“Who speaks of liberty while the human mind is in chains?”
~ Frances Wright, writer, abolitionist, social reformer, 1828
Frances “Fanny” Wright lived and died more than half a century before women in the United States won the right to cast a vote and try to ensure that half the population had a voice in political elections.
Wright’s passionate voice on the subject of liberty and freedom, and on behalf of what might now be called “the working classes” — the majority of folx who actually do and make and grow things (etc.) — remains as powerful and pertinent as ever.
In the spirit of Independence Day in the U.S., here is another of Wright’s impassioned and inspiring pleas as a voice for Libertas, and for the ideal, great experiment, and work-in-progress of freedom and democracy:
Frances “Fanny” Wright (1795-1852).
“The industrious classes have been called the bone and marrow of the nation; but they are in fact the nation itself.
The fruits of their industry are the nation’s wealth; their moral integrity and physical health is the nation’s strength; their ease and independence is the nation’s prosperity; their intellectual intelligence is the nation’s hope.
Where the producing laborer and useful artisan eat well, sleep well, live comfortably, think correctly, speak fearlessly, and act uprightly, the nation is happy, free, and wise.
Has such a nation ever been? No. Can such a nation ever be?
Answer, men of industry in the United States! If such can be, it is here. If such is to be, it must be your work.”
For a more contemporary, recent perspective on Libertas, the laborer, and the economic state of affairs (and an alarm-bell warning to the Plutocrats), read Nick Hanauer’s article, “The Pitchforks Are Coming…For Us Plutocrats.”
Jamie is an inspiration partner and lantern-holder for her fellow transformation leaders, change catalysts, and creative nonconformists who are living, inspiring, and (intentionally or not) leading the way in these chaotic times.
When she's not tending and stirring the Sophia's Children cauldron, she's following research trails, and serving as the Director of a Repro-Justice-oriented women's health center in her community, emphasizing in-person compassionate care.
Jamie is a long-time servant of the Muse, a writer and author, an intrepid walker and feline-tender, and is passionate about the current power and relevance of reclaiming ancestral-wisdom and tending to genea-line-healing. She has great appreciation for dark chocolate and cooking other nourishing, delicious meals -- often plant-based -- to nourish her partner and her peeps.
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