...great poet of American thought, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who in his essay »Self-Reliance« (1841) wrote, Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist,...as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong. 61 60 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Beyond Red vs. Blue. Republicans Divided About...

...me."7 In "Self-Reliance," Emerson balked at the Christian commandment to look to the down and out. "Do not tell me, as a good man did today, of my obligation...all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor?" Reagan insisted that we are responsible for ourselves, and with Emerson he regarded desires not as...

...Reliance," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of economic responsibility as focused on the self: "Then again, do not tell me, as a good man did to-day, of my obligation...to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor?'"8'' American discomfort with welfare programs has been strengthened by such views. Diggins comments...

...infamous line from "Self-Reliance" more sympathetically. Somewhat petulantly, Emerson writes: Then, again, do not tell me, as a good man did to-day, of my obligation...as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong. (CW2, 30-31; emphasis in the original) The passage shocks because it seems so callous. But I take the...

...the day in explanation. Expect me not to show cause why I seek or why I exclude company. Then again, do not tell me, as a good man did today, of my obligation...as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong. The general background of substitution could hardly be clearer. What Jesus required of one who would...

...he says, "I could write on the lintels of the door-post, 'Whim!"' " Do not tell me of my obligations to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my...do not belong to me, and to whom I do not belong." "I like the silent church before the service begins better than any preaching. How far off, how cool,...