Happy 4th!
2007-07-04 15:33:07.706515+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments
2007-07-04 15:33:07.706515+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments
[ related topics: Archival ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2007-07-04 18:46:29.353997+00 by: ebradway [edit history]
Sadly... That document is not a legal description of our rights.
Even though "We hold these truths to be self-evident" our government currently does not believe "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights".
You're rights as delineated by the Bill of Rights are not recognized by our own government when you are outside US territory. And those rights are only valid for American Citizens and do not apply to "all men".
BTW, I watched Pursuit of Happyness the other night. It was a fantastic film and a good treatment of the Declaration of Independence. And I have newfound respect for the Fresh Prince...
#Comment Re: made: 2007-07-05 02:26:49.37302+00 by: Dan Lyke
The book is also worth a read...
#Comment Re: made: 2007-07-05 02:29:15.978715+00 by: baylink
> That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Those 3 grafs right there constitute the foundation of my belief that the Founders' reason for including the second amendment RTKBA language was *specifically so that* we could overthrow the government again, should it become possible to convice enoug armed men that it was necessary.
#Comment Re: made: 2007-07-05 04:37:07.461705+00 by: ziffle
baylink: yes!
#Comment Re: made: 2007-07-05 20:52:11.136341+00 by: petronius
An interesting take on the meaning of the Declaration here. There has been a lot of discussion of late as to whether or not Lincoln was a racist, as we currently define the term. He may have been so. However, statements like these disclose a clarity of thought that in the long run makes for a better basis for an inclusive body politic. First justice, then love.
#Comment Re: made: 2007-07-05 22:13:38.019837+00 by: Dan Lyke
Just to toss two more thoughts of agreement in here, Damian at Danger West says:
Nazis and Communists took pleasure in pointing out that the US practiced institutionalized segregation. It’s not that the lynching of blacks was as bad as the holocaust or gulag, though I imagine for the guy hanging from the tree such fine distinctions weren’t all that important. I would simply point out that America - “we” - didn’t really collectively aspire to be better. It’s not as though the Civil Rights movement was a welcome occurrence, even to our hero JFK, or most politicians and citizens for that matter. Perhaps it was inevitable, what with the obvious injustice and with WWII behind us, etc. But certain people aspired to make America better. They deserve the credit. We just reaped the benefit of their sacrifice.
Today I will have a drink in honor of my most favorite traitors in history, the Sons of Liberty and the Founding Fathers. They at least knew what to do with their troublesome George and his loyalists.