Tag: subject

Book Recommendation: The Art of Nonfiction Writing

The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers

Writing a 15-page essay is difficult; writing a 15-page publishable paper is even more difficult. But writing a 15-page essay that is publishable and consistent in all its content is a masterpiece.

As difficult as to writing so many pages is to write a single paragraph that is structured in a readable, rational and valuable way.  By readable I mean that is grammatically correct. By rational I mean that its sentences are all logical, valid and non-contradictory. By  valuable I mean that achieves the goal of informing and adding value for the specific target of people for whom you are writing.

To learn how to do this and continue perfecting the “art” of writing I went through a course a year ago that used the book “The Art of Nonfiction Writing. A Guide for Writers and Readers” written by Ayn Rand as the main literature. The book is a magnificent tool that analysis different steps of the Writing Process by dealing it as an “ability to create quality nonfiction; a skill that can be learned like any other.”

Jefferson: The Civil must always be in complete control of The Military

Lady Justice Takes the Bus
Image by djking via Flickr

The ideas of the Founding Father‘s were an inspiration across the breath of Europe and Latin America. Even now, more than 200 years later, the words of the great Thomas Jefferson should and must be remembered now that the new governments we elected continuously impulse the centralization of agricultural, commercial and industrial production.

“But the true barriers [bulwarks] of our liberty in this country are our State governments . . . Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise . . . standing armies in time of peace should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.”  Jefferson, Thomas. Annual Message to Congress (1801)

As important, Thomas Jefferson’s message to the new Citizens of the United States was that it was fundamental to the survival of a Republican country that The Civil must always be in complete control of The Military. Jefferson had made this warning as an answer to the Constitution that Virginians had written. Nowadays, however, the message goes to the citizenry that fails to recognize that the role of an army in time of peace should be avoided and kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

These are some of Jefferson’s messages that helped the United States build a stable government based on Republicanism. In the cases in which The Military and their allies may sometimes control the executive power they must constantly be remembered that it is the strict following of The Constitution their most important obligation. This is the only tool in which The Civil will complete The Military; failing to do so will only secure autocratic governments in which The Civil loses their rights just as history has shown.