In every political proposal we must not leave out of the question the political views and object of the proposer; and these we discover, not by what he says, but by the principles he lays down.
Edmund Burke: “In every political proposal we must not leave out of the question the political views and object of the proposer; and…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that understanding a political proposal requires examining the proposer's principles.
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But an absurd theory on one side of a question forms no justification for alleging a false fact or promulgating mischievous maxims on the other.
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A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
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