Cooperative Living July 2017 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 71, No. 7
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
LAURIE MILLS,
Apple Eye Studio, LLC
Graphic Designer
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Specialist
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: bsherrod@vmdaec.com
Web: www.co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
LARRY C. HOWDYSHELL
Chairman
JAMES E. HUFFMAN
Vice Chairman
HERBERT R. PATRICK
Secretary
FLETCHER B. JONES
Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Michael
I. Wheatley, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; J. Manley Garber, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell W. Meyers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Micheal E. Malandro, Prince
George; Richard C. Oliver, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry
C. Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank
W. Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
Amanda Cunningham (804) 346-3344
National Advertising Representative: NCM,
611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
Member of the NCM network of
publications, reaching more than
8 million homes and businesses.
PRESSRUN . . . . . . . . . 521,608
COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is
published 10 times a year, monthly except for
combined March/April and November/ December
issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of Electric
Cooperatives. POSTMASTER, address changes
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ADVERTISING published is accepted on the
premise that the merchandise and services offered
are accurately described and willingly sold to
customers at the advertised price. Neither this
magazine nor the electric cooperatives in Virginia,
Maryland, and Delaware endorses any products or
services advertised herein. If any readers encounter
non-compliance with these standards, they are
asked to inform the Editor.
Big Ben
Scientist. Inventor. Statesman. Writer. Printer. Postmaster. A Founding
Father of our nation, and of its first successful cooperative business.
No mere 18th-century fossil, Benjamin Franklin still looms large on the
American public stage, where his words still inspire, his ideas still
resonate, and the nation he helped found still thrives.
A
s a Virginian and an avid student of
history, a truth I hold as self-evident is
that Thomas Jefferson is THE central,
towering figure in any discussion about the
Declaration of Independence.
This document transformed the relationship
between citizens and their government. It
boldly, brashly and beautifully articulated basic
human freedoms.
And it outlined the principles - soaring in
their aspiration, grounded in their application
- that would soon nurture in earliest bud, and
feed till the present day, a democracy like no
other before or since.
This Declaration was adopted by the Second
Continental Congress in Philadelphia's
Independence Hall 241 years ago this July the
Fourth. And thus was born the Independence
Day we now celebrate with a sizzle of burgers
and brats over open flame, a flourish of
fireworks over ballfields, but too often with a
lack of reverence for the risks to life and fortune
willingly assumed by the new leaders of these
" United States of America. "
We often forget that Benjamin Franklin
was among the five Founding Fathers who
together crafted this masterful document under
Mr. Jefferson's leadership. (John Adams, Robert
Livingston and Roger Sherman were the other three
members of the declaration committee.)
So it seems only appropriate during this
Independence Day month of July to acknowledge
Benjamin Franklin's considerable contributions
not only to our nation's founding, but also to our
politics, our culture and our scientific understanding
of the natural world.
Mr. Franklin also has a distinctive dual
connection to the electric cooperatives that would
not be created until almost a century and a half
after his death in 1790. There's his famous (or
fanciful, according to some historians) kite
experiment proving that lightning is a form of
electricity. And there's his founding of the first
successful cooperative business in the U.S., a
mutual (cooperatively owned and operated)
insurance company that's still around today.
Ah, and then there are his humorous oneliners,
astute predictions and sage sayings that
continue to this day to enrich our language and
enliven our national debate on a huge array of
issues. A sampling of some of his best follows,
many drawn from " Poor Richard's Almanack. "
So here's to " Big Ben " and all he's meant to these
great United States! 
He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals. ✶ They who can give up
essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
✶A mob's a monster; heads enough but no brains. ✶ Sell not virtue to purchase
wealth, nor liberty to purchase power. ✶ Glass, china, and reputation are easily
crack'd, and never well mended. ✶ Silence is not always a sign of wisdom, but
babbling is ever a folly. ✶A good example is the best sermon. ✶ It's common for
Men to give pretended reasons, instead of one real one. ✶ Three may keep a secret, if
two of them are dead. ✶ Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion. ✶ 'Tis easy to
see, hard to foresee. V Who has deceiv'd thee so oft as thy self? ✶ Be slow in
choosing a friend, slower in changing.
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Cooperative Living July 2017

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