Hi Rob, > I don't pretend to be an expert in government or the constitution. I do > believe that I do know it's essentials however. Clearly it's authors had no > comprehension as to where this country would be in 2004. If they had I > believe they would have been much more specific in certain areas. I agree. But that is why they made allowances for Constitutional amendments -- to clarify and refine the role of the Constitution as needed in a changing world. It was with the first amendment to the Constitution that our founders said, "Oh, gee! Wow, we can't have people of one religious denomination shoving their beliefs/practices down the throats of people from other religious denominations by force of law!" So they fixed it. But our world has grown much more diverse. We're no longer talking about religious denominations but religions themselves -- and even lack of religion. The same principle applies equally today: The government won't (or at least in theory shouldn't) shove any brand of religion down anyone's throat. > I do know > what America was like when I was a kid and I am amazed at how it has > changed. What's sad is that things which weren't an issue just a few years > ago bring people to such anger today. Whole definitions are being changed to > custom serve political interests. What was once called "Freedom of Speech" > has been renamed "Freedom of Expression". What was called "homosexuality" is > now "alternative lifestyle". What was once called "murder" is now called > "choice". What was lack of personal responsibility is now being a victim. > And when people are afraid to fly a flag "because it might offend someone" > we have a serious problem. You're either veeeeeeeery old, you have a very short memory, or you just weren't aware of these things when you were younger. This religious thing has been a problem for all of my life, as has been freedom of speech (also under the banner of the first amendment). I remember as a 4th grader having to write a paper about why I was proud to be an American. All I could tell was that the government sent my two cousins to Vietnam to possibly be killed, with the purpose of killing other people, interfering in the affairs of governments far away, having nothing to do with our own government, wasting our tax money, all in the name of "national defense," which it wasn't. I was honest then, the way I am honest now. I was not feeling particularly "proud" back then, and so that's what I wrote. My teacher was horrified. My parents were horrified. And so I was forced to rewrite the paper to express a bunch of lies. That was a pretty good lesson, early in life, about freedom of speech. (Oh, along about that time, I also did a cartoon for a school paper that was censored because it would have reflected negatively on the principal.) We didn't have to say the pledge every morning, but by the time I hit high school in the mid '70's, we had "morning devotionals," in which we effectively had to attend church every morning for 15 min or so, listening to Biblical scripture over the P.A. system. I had to start each week day uncomfortable, socially conspicuous, and frankly pissed off. I was NOT the only one who felt this way. It was an almost universal reaction amongst non-Christians. Almost three decades later, nothing has changed. > What's happening is not limited to religion. It's American values, our > culture, our history, and a whole long list of things your great-great > grandparents were proud of. You can bet they wouldn't be blaming the > government for feeling oppressed because of something like "In God We Trust" > on the dollar bill. I'm no rocket scientist but am I missing something here > or are America's founding values going down the toilet? Our grandparents and great grandparents were indeed fighting these issues in their day. The rage of the day was whether evolution (a science) could be taught in the public schools and whether religion could be taught in its stead. You just weren't paying attention. We're still squabbling over that one today. We're not going to be squabbling over the "In God We Trust" on the dollar bill until other important battles are won and put away -- like school-mandated prayer (which does still exist in some school systems), religiously loaded oaths of office/duty, removal of religion (and religious bias) from the courts, etc. Then we can start talking about the more trivial symbolism that most people don't notice anyway. > Are we still friends fellow American? Of course. :-) We just have different visions for our country, and that diversity of opinion is what makes our country strong. > GOD bless America, the greatest republic in world history. Hmmmmm..... May the Goddess save us from ourselves. There may be hope for our country yet! Don't get me wrong. I love my country dearly, probably more than most people on this list. But that's part of why I'm so critical of the directions we're taking. If I had to rewrite that 4th grade paper, I would have lots of points of pride to discuss. I'm proud of our people. I'm proud of our culture. I'm proud of the pioneer spirit that brought us here, and I'm proud at what we have achieved. I'm proud of our system of higher education, which despite its faults is unique in its ability to foster creativity. I'm proud of the scientific advancements we've made in the name of humankind. I'm proud of our potential to grow and to better our government. However, I do duck my head in shame over so many things. We can do so much better. Perhaps someday we will all be free, and this will be a just society. Until then, we have a LOT of work to do, just to catch up with the civil/human rights standards of the rest of the Western World -- even simply to live up to the vision our founders had for us. We like to think of ourselves as having the most free country in the world. (Wrong!) Short of that, we like to think of ourselves in at least the top ten. (Wrong again!) Or perhaps somewhere in the pack of Western World countries. (Still wrong.) For some subcultures in our country, we even lag bad boys such as Croatia and Argentina for our human rights abuses. And all this has gotten precipitously worse in the past four years. You and I just don't live in the same America. All citizens should have the same rights you do -- end even more. Peace, Sarah
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