Walt Whitman Quotes
… democracy, as it exists and practically works in America, with all its threatening evils, supplies a training school for making first-class men. It is life's gymnasium..fit for freedom’s athletes… Whatever we do not attain, we at any rate attain the experiences of the fight, the hardening of the strong campaign, and throb with currents of attempt at least.
He was referring to China which has gone to great length to censor and control the Internet going into China.
The Spanish colonization had been so exploitative that there was little of no infrastructure established in the Spanish colonies. Almost no institutions, no local government, existed, and there was no system of law or tolerance of minority views. Power controlled all and the Spanish (and Portuguese) were the power. When they were defeated, it was a bitter free for all in most cases unless there was a strong man and even they did not last long.
Walter Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman's own life came under scrutiny for his presumed homosexuality.
