Perhaps the Republicans Need to Return to the Basics...
Rational Nation USA
Birthplace of Independent Conservatsm
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
Could it be the republican party in general, and the republican leadership in particular should read and grow to understand the words of our founders? I believe the republican party and the neo-cons that have infiltrated it have no idea what our founders believed in or what our constitution says anymore than the democratic party and it's progressives do.
"In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections." --John Adams, Inaugural Address, 1797
"The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity." --George Washington, letter to the people of South Carolina, 1790
"The eyes of the world being thus on our Country, it is put the more on its good behavior, and under the greater obligation also, to do justice to the Tree of Liberty by an exhibition of the fine fruits we gather from it." --James Madison, letter to James Monroe, 1824
"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." --Thomas Jefferson,??letter to James Smith, 1822
"Is it not the glory of the people of America, that whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly spirit, posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example of the numerous innovations displayed on the American theatre, in favor of private rights and public happiness." --James Madison, Federalist No. 14, 1787
"The steady character of our countrymen is a rock to which we may safely moor; and notwithstanding the efforts of the papers to disseminate early discontents, I expect that a just, dispassionate and steady conduct, will at length rally to a proper system the great body of our country. Unequivocal in principle, reasonable in manner, we shall be able I hope to do a great deal of good to the cause of freedom & harmony." --Thomas Jefferson,??letter to Elbridge Gerry, 1801
Or maybe I'm all wet and the progressives have it just right. I can't figure because even when a conservative acknowledges the validity of some of their talking points they choose to equivocate and avoid all compromise.
Via: The Patriot Post
Here is the cause of your dilemma: You're assuming it's possible for anyone to have it "just right."
ReplyDeletePeople, societies, nations change over time.
The reality of "change over time" is a big problem for conservative thinking people.
If you were to ask me, "What is evolution?," I always answer immediately, "Change over time."
All things change over time.
It's a fact of life.
The greatest beauty of the Constitution is that it is the ultimate foundation of our law.
Period.
We are a nation built on a document. And that document was written by men. The words "US Constitution" appear no where in the Bible. We are a nation of laws, and those laws are all held to account of interpretation of the US Constitution.
US Citizen rights don't come from God. Maybe human rights do, but not US Citizen rights. The Constitution is the final word in that regard.
It's a great beauty of the Constitution to survive all this time and we should keep to it. After all, unlike the Bible, we can adapt and amend the Constitution.
And of course, the genius of the Constitution is it's interpretability. It is narrow and succinct when it need be, and it can be interpreted many different ways where it does not have the answer - and then we people try to come up with one (not God, again, by the way).
You prove my point by way of your assortment of quotes in your post.
These guys had all sorts of different ideas about what America should be, but instead of killing each other like most every other post-revolutionary leaderships, they agreed to disagree, by adhering to a document.
My main argument with constructionism, is that it does not accept temporal context. We are not late 18th century colonials. We should heed their works, but be wary of their musings. Musings are just musings, after all.
JMJ
"You prove my point by way of your assortment of quotes in your post."
ReplyDeleteI've always maintained these guys were brilliant, true visionaries born of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment. For which I have been called reactionary, a racist, deluded, foolish, living with the dead, and all sorts of other BS by progressives. And now you expect me to believe you understand... Bullsh*t is my answer to you and the progressive movement in general.
JMJ said: "And of course, the genius of the Constitution is it's interpretability"
ReplyDeleteThat's also its pitfall. With "interpretability" for some with authority meaning "it means anything we want it to"
So you get such attempted death-blows to our rights such as the leftists in the United States Supreme Court ("Citizens United" decision claiming that it is OK for the government to ban mere discussion of political candidates and important issues.
Sticking to what is said in the document is a LOT better than "interpretations" that directly contradict it.
Interesting use of a sketch of Giordano Bruno..
ReplyDelete..GOP could could revisit old Bruno. Consider
'conservapedia':
"Libertines brought to fruition a form of anti-Christian and antihumanistic Aristotelianism that led to a radical naturalism. The most famous thinkers in this tradition were Giordano Bruno and Thomas Companella"
..for thinking outside the box, Bruno was burnt
at the stake and Camponella tortured on the rack
seven times, crippled for life. ...and apparently, if we subscribe to conservapedia,
some pitiful folk still fear those ideas.
Good points all.
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective it is time for conservatives to understand that the reference to the brilliance of the American Founders lies in the fact that it must be universal and that government's proper role and purpose is to provide a social order that supports this ideal for all.