You know, I was just thinking about something. Why is it, to me, there is almost a perfect line between what is right and wrong or what makes sense and what doesn't, and yet so few others can see these lines?
There is a purpose, cause, intent, or desire involved with every human activity. No one does anything solely for the purpose of doing it. Period. Well, maybe dumping a load doesn't fit, but you get the drift. Any situation can be divided down to essential elements similar to molecular structure and analyzed, act by act, and the purpose, cause, intent, or desire is usually disclosed. Facts are facts and fiction is fiction. Facts are what you know. Fiction is what they tell you.
Is it so very hard to read between the lines, to look under the carpet and find the hidden messages behind the media and from the government? The driving force behind anything is power and money. Period. There has never been a war yet that didn't make money for someone or provide someone with greater power. You should not fear the leaders, but the ones behind the leaders. Truth is relevant to perception. This is something I know. It is a fact. You see and hear what you want to see and hear. And way too many of us are seeing this artfully crafted picture of a world that does not exist. Decry if you want the conditions of people in Iraq, but then think too how much less freedom you have than those who founded this country.
Power and money built America, but it built it upon the backs of Americans. We could show the world that democracy can really work. I propose a groundswell of people to clamor for a new constitutional convention, and let us Americans decide some of the issues that seem to be so wrong with the constitution we have now. At least it has been interpreted over 200 years by power and money influenced jurisprudence. Why not use this grand invention of the Internet to its true purpose: a true and rational discussion of what kind of country we really want America to be and what we are wanting to give up in exchange. As it sits now, we slowly give up our freedoms, and continually get less in return.
Where did that come from? Does it make any sense?
Posted by Tiger at August 6, 2003 10:26 PMRemember having those thoughts during the Carter years. The more I read the original document, the fewer things I really wanted to change.
It might be nice to have a succession plan for the President, Senate, and House spelled out. Is that worth risking the rest of the program? At a Con-Con, you start from scratch.
America was built on the backs of Americans, but not quite the way I think you meant it. The Eastern establishment tended to be people that could and did create a community they'd like to live in. The rest of the country was built by people that didn't like the Eastern community. Don't like New York City? Move to the Finger Lakes. Finger Lakes getting crowded? There's nice farmland in Ohio, or so I'm told.
America grew not because somebody put a gun to your head and forced you to leave. Regular men and women strapped everything they owned onto their backs and went where the opportunities were. If you were born poor, so what? A thousand acre hobby farm in North Dakota or Kansas could be had for a song. If the neighbors turned out to be unfriendly, there's always Colorado or Idaho, or someplace they haven't even named yet.
And when you got there, you brought the Constitution with you. That was your shield, your sure set of ground rules that made settlement worth while.
Has it been bent/abused/twisted/disregarded? Yeah, since about 1789. It's been waved by people who could call evil good with a straight face. It's been honored by scalawags. And millions have offered and given their lives in its defense.
Don't change the document. Read it. Commit yourself to living its principles daily, and demand that your elected leaders do the same. Fire them if they won't do it.
My apologies for this being so long. Thanks.
Posted by: drlivipr at August 7, 2003 04:13 AMI'm going to have to mull this over a bit. Comments later. Good post!
Posted by: Ted at August 7, 2003 09:11 AM