Today is the BIRTHDAY of the great Iranian reformist and philosopher and one of the most influential individuals in world history – Zoroaster… 

Etienne St. Julien de Tournillon makes the following remark in his 1826 letter to Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter’s husband Nicholas P. Trist:

“Your president [John Quincy Adams] appointed by Congress does not seem to me to be a great democrat. There are no doubt exceptions to the rule, and we have proof of it, but I do not like this position filled by a character who was for a long time living in foreign courts. There one breathes an air that resembles very little the one that blows over the capitol. Rather, here one familiarizes oneself with flattery, witness the speech of your minister E. to his majesty King Ferdinand VII. When I read it I rubbed my eyes several times, believing that I was dreaming, and could hardly conceive that a representative of a free nation could play the role of sycophant to that degree. The president appointed by the people would certainly not have allowed such language. As to the question of Panama, my opinion is that your president and your congress would have done better to keep to the law of the great Zoroaster: ‘When you do not know whether the step you are considering taking is good or bad, refrain from it’…”

… President John Quincy Adams, the son of an American Founder and 2nd President John Adams, was defeated when running for his second term by Andrew Jackson, “a peoples president,” who accused Adams of having won his first term as president through “corrupt bargain” involving disputed electoral votes in American presidential election process…

… this remark and events of presidential election some 200 years ago are also interesting given America’s current political demise and the breach of America’s sovereignty at the hands of foreign influence – the very threat that some American Founders warned against…

[pic source Ottawa Rock Art: Zoroaster's Healing Circle 1993… for educational purposes only]