First I want to say that I claim no political allegiance to ANY U.S. political platform. I owe my allegiance to my country alone.
I received this from my father, and read it, and felt somewhat validated by it in my frustration with the America of today, however, I understand that some may find the principles, herein, outdated and that being their reasoning for backing U.S. political system as of present. If that is so, why? What do you envision for the future? And how do you suppose that will come to be if we stay on present course?
Unfortunately, I won't be around this weekend to talk about this, but I would like to know what the other AMERICANS here think about it.
If you are a foreigner and what to comment, that is cool, but remember that you will only distracting from the point of my posting this, if you begin slinging shit about the states.
From: The Founding Fathers
To: The current generation of Americans
On this the 225th anniversary of our independence, those of us you
call the Founding Fathers have assembled in Continental heaven to
assess the condition of the republic we bequeathed to you.
It's true America has become the wealthiest, most powerful nation
on earth. But so was the British Empire in 1776.
Before we get specific, we must confess that we are annoyed by your
habit of misinterpreting our words. Take the First Amendment, where
we said Congress shall make no law "respecting an establishment of
religion." You usually neglect the other half of the injunction,
"or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
As anyone in the first Congress, which passed the amendment, could
have told you, "establishment of religion" means an established
church, which all are forced to support. We never intended to create
a virtue-less republic, by prohibiting public expressions of faith.
In the Declaration of Independence, we acknowledged that rights are
endowed by our Creator. Absent a Creator, there are no inalienable
rights.
In the Second Amendment, we said the right to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed. In our day, if private citizens hadn't
owned guns there would have been no Lexington and Concord.
Why would we bother guaranteeing a collective right to arm state
militias? The rights enumerated in the first 10 amendments are
restraints on government, not grants of power to it. If you ever
wake up to what's going on, your leaders will have cause to fear
an armed citizenry.
We viewed elective office as a sacrifice. For your politicians,
it's an opportunity. We rid America of a monarchy. You've
established an elected aristocracy. We were farmers, merchants
and professionals who resumed our careers after a brief term of
service and never lost touch with our constituents.
You are governed by an elite so different from you as to almost
constitute a separate species. Your elected rulers hold office
for 20 or 30 years, becoming increasingly detached from their
roots, while rewarding themselves lavish emoluments and pensions.
We revolted over a modest tax on tea. Your tax burden is staggering.
Despite the enormous expenditures of your prodigal politicians, even
they can't spend it all. And still, many resist returning the federal
surplus to its rightful owners. We rejected taxation without
representation. You condone your own serfdom.
In the Declaration, we complained that King George III had "sent
hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their
substance." You complacently tolerate a bureaucracy that resembles
all Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Eat out their substance? Today, almost one in 13 Americans works
for a branch of government. Harass our people? There are bureaucrats
to tell you how to run your business, build on your property and
raise your children. Government makes decisions for you regarding
your health, safety and welfare.
We envisioned the judiciary as a coequal branch of government that
interprets laws based on the clear meaning of language. Your courts
have become a law unto themselves - raising taxes, deciding elections,
ordering private relationships and substituting their will for that
of legislators.
We warned you against entangling alliances. You are eager to form
defensive pacts with postage-stamp countries whose security couldn't
conceivably be related to your own. This will only serve to drag you
into their petty quarrels, sapping your strength.
We recognized that government and society must rest on divine wisdom.
George Washington observed, "Reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle."
You cultivate national immorality, in the apparent belief that
abortion, adolescent access to pornography, cohabitation, public
distribution of prophylactics and compulsory acceptance of perversion
will somehow lead to a society whose citizens have the self-discipline
to sacrifice for the common good.
Benjamin Franklin said we gave you a republic "if you can keep it."
From our vantage point, it does not look promising. Were we alive
today, we'd raise another rebellion.
***************************************************
Don Feder is a columnist for the Boston Herald and the author of
"Who is afraid of the Religious Right?" and
"A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America.
Okay, I don't feel that my entire personal veiwpoint is wholly represented here, because I don't see anyone handing out porn mags to teens on the street and most all porn sites are becoming AVS check, and I am not immoral, but am pro sexuality. I just see this as representing that of a more well rounded viewpoint than that of either the Democratic or Republican parties will ever offer.
I am wondering what others think about this.
I received this from my father, and read it, and felt somewhat validated by it in my frustration with the America of today, however, I understand that some may find the principles, herein, outdated and that being their reasoning for backing U.S. political system as of present. If that is so, why? What do you envision for the future? And how do you suppose that will come to be if we stay on present course?
Unfortunately, I won't be around this weekend to talk about this, but I would like to know what the other AMERICANS here think about it.
If you are a foreigner and what to comment, that is cool, but remember that you will only distracting from the point of my posting this, if you begin slinging shit about the states.
From: The Founding Fathers
To: The current generation of Americans
On this the 225th anniversary of our independence, those of us you
call the Founding Fathers have assembled in Continental heaven to
assess the condition of the republic we bequeathed to you.
It's true America has become the wealthiest, most powerful nation
on earth. But so was the British Empire in 1776.
Before we get specific, we must confess that we are annoyed by your
habit of misinterpreting our words. Take the First Amendment, where
we said Congress shall make no law "respecting an establishment of
religion." You usually neglect the other half of the injunction,
"or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
As anyone in the first Congress, which passed the amendment, could
have told you, "establishment of religion" means an established
church, which all are forced to support. We never intended to create
a virtue-less republic, by prohibiting public expressions of faith.
In the Declaration of Independence, we acknowledged that rights are
endowed by our Creator. Absent a Creator, there are no inalienable
rights.
In the Second Amendment, we said the right to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed. In our day, if private citizens hadn't
owned guns there would have been no Lexington and Concord.
Why would we bother guaranteeing a collective right to arm state
militias? The rights enumerated in the first 10 amendments are
restraints on government, not grants of power to it. If you ever
wake up to what's going on, your leaders will have cause to fear
an armed citizenry.
We viewed elective office as a sacrifice. For your politicians,
it's an opportunity. We rid America of a monarchy. You've
established an elected aristocracy. We were farmers, merchants
and professionals who resumed our careers after a brief term of
service and never lost touch with our constituents.
You are governed by an elite so different from you as to almost
constitute a separate species. Your elected rulers hold office
for 20 or 30 years, becoming increasingly detached from their
roots, while rewarding themselves lavish emoluments and pensions.
We revolted over a modest tax on tea. Your tax burden is staggering.
Despite the enormous expenditures of your prodigal politicians, even
they can't spend it all. And still, many resist returning the federal
surplus to its rightful owners. We rejected taxation without
representation. You condone your own serfdom.
In the Declaration, we complained that King George III had "sent
hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their
substance." You complacently tolerate a bureaucracy that resembles
all Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Eat out their substance? Today, almost one in 13 Americans works
for a branch of government. Harass our people? There are bureaucrats
to tell you how to run your business, build on your property and
raise your children. Government makes decisions for you regarding
your health, safety and welfare.
We envisioned the judiciary as a coequal branch of government that
interprets laws based on the clear meaning of language. Your courts
have become a law unto themselves - raising taxes, deciding elections,
ordering private relationships and substituting their will for that
of legislators.
We warned you against entangling alliances. You are eager to form
defensive pacts with postage-stamp countries whose security couldn't
conceivably be related to your own. This will only serve to drag you
into their petty quarrels, sapping your strength.
We recognized that government and society must rest on divine wisdom.
George Washington observed, "Reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle."
You cultivate national immorality, in the apparent belief that
abortion, adolescent access to pornography, cohabitation, public
distribution of prophylactics and compulsory acceptance of perversion
will somehow lead to a society whose citizens have the self-discipline
to sacrifice for the common good.
Benjamin Franklin said we gave you a republic "if you can keep it."
From our vantage point, it does not look promising. Were we alive
today, we'd raise another rebellion.
***************************************************
Don Feder is a columnist for the Boston Herald and the author of
"Who is afraid of the Religious Right?" and
"A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America.
Okay, I don't feel that my entire personal veiwpoint is wholly represented here, because I don't see anyone handing out porn mags to teens on the street and most all porn sites are becoming AVS check, and I am not immoral, but am pro sexuality. I just see this as representing that of a more well rounded viewpoint than that of either the Democratic or Republican parties will ever offer.
I am wondering what others think about this.
