"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Read the Declaration and celebrate liberty!
15 Comments for “Independence Day”
posted by dario bezzanti on
This is one of the unique moments of mankind history when many think that a new era can come and do something to let it happen.
We can be grateful for that and continue according to it
posted by Bobby on
Notice the words “endowed by their Creator,” remember them the next time someone gets angry about the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance, “In God We Trust” on our dollar bills, National Day of Prayer, and dozens of other forms of religious expressions, such as taking oaths and opening congress with a prayer.
Our rights come from God, not government. This is what the progressives don’t understand.
posted by Jimmy on
“Our rights come from God, not government. This is what the progressives don’t understand.”
Yet, there is a striking lack of religiosity, even of the deistic nature that the phrase “endowed by their Creator” speaks to, in the constitution. The founders were quite purposeful in their sparse reference to deity. From wherever our rights derive, the business of creating and maintaining this democratic republic is entirely a secular affair. Rights that are self evident are not dependent upon any deity.
posted by Tom on
What social conservatives do not understand is that the government must not deny equal treatment under the law to any citizen.
posted by Bobby on
Jimmy, if rights come from government then the government can take them away from us at anytime. That’s the reason why the founders didn’t want Government to have too much power. Progressives don’t think that way, they want total power and control because they think government can do better than the private sector.
“What social conservatives do not understand is that the government must not deny equal treatment under the law to any citizen.”
They are starting to understand it, read this article
How Republicans made their Peace with Sodomy
http://townhall.com/columnists/SteveChapman/2010/07/04/how_republicans_made_their_peace_with_sodomy
Of course, some people left nasty comments, but that’s to be expected. When Rush Limbaugh got married, the libs left nasty comments as well.
So yes, we agree on equal treatment, I do not agree with special treatment. For example, did you know that the government often violates the fourth amendment by searching units in public housing for guns?
Yup, watch
“No Guns for Negroes,”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nckgyfGbdnU
It’s about the racist history of gun control, how the white establishment sought to keep blacks from owning guns. If you like it, look for part II.
posted by Jimmy on
“Jimmy, if rights come from government then the government can take them away from us at anytime.”
No it can’t. The constitution says so. Besides, as our rights are self evident, they were not “given” to us. Check your paranoia, Bobby.
“Progressives don’t think that way, they want total power and control because they think government can do better than the private sector.”
At some things, yes. Progressives believe government should work for the people, first and foremost. Progressives also want to limit the corrupting influence of corporations on government institutions that are meant to serve the interests of all of the people, not an intrenched, entitled few.
posted by North Dallas Thirty on
What social conservatives do not understand is that the government must not deny equal treatment under the law to any citizen.
Good. Then, since you argue that marriage bans are a violation of “equal treatment”, then bans on child, plural, bestial, incestuous, and other forms of marriage must certainly be unconstitutional.
What, Tom? You said ANY citizen. No qualifiers. Since you argue that denial of marriage is denial of “equal treatment”, then you cannot deny marriage to any citizen, regardless of their sexual preferences.
Or would you now like to reverse yourself and state that it is NOT a violation of “equal treatment” for the government to limit marriage?
This is always funny to watch. Leftist progressives insist on “equal treatment” under the law, but then demand that people with higher incomes be treated unequally, that women and minorities receive preferential treatment, and so forth.
Progressives like Tom use “equal treatment” in the same context that the Soviet Union did; everyone was “equal”, except for the nomenklatura class. You can see this in the Obama Party’s attitude towards taxes; they demand that they be raised, they insist that it is your “patriotic duty” to pay higher taxes, and then they refuse to pay them themselves.
posted by Jimmy on
“What, Tom? You said ANY citizen. No qualifiers.”
PF, you horse pifler you, you are seriously bent. I believe the law is a qualifier on law breakers. Always has been.
“You can see this in the Obama Party’s attitude towards taxes.”
Like the tax breaks that were passed, and those currently planned?
http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2009/03/tax-breaks-in-obamas-15-billion-small.html
Tax rates are the lowest in modern history.
posted by Bobby on
“No it can’t. The constitution says so. Besides, as our rights are self evident, they were not “given” to us. Check your paranoia, Bobby.”
—-Hahahahaha, the constitution? Have you heard what Mayor James Dale has to say about the second amendment? SCOTUS ruled my way thanks to the 5 justices who know how to read the constitution yet Dale is still trying to playing tricks on people so they don’t get their guns.
Besides, your progressive friends think the constitution is a living-document, ever heard them chant “hate speech is not free speech?” I have! And no, Rush Limbaugh bitching about Obama is not the equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded theater, yet your progressive friends want to charge him and Glenn Beck with sedition!
“At some things, yes. Progressives believe government should work for the people, first and foremost.”
—Yet it never does, in fact, when the government becomes powerful they simply give themselves more power and more privilege. Look at Cuba, Vietnam, China, in those countries the political class always has the good life while the people live miserably. Sure, China has embraced capitalism, but do you think the average Chinese peasant lives like a typical Chinese politician? Hell no.
Our government is already bloated Jimmy, it’s an outrage that senators make $168,000 and then brag because for the first time in decades they didn’t give each other a raise.
“Progressives also want to limit the corrupting influence of corporations on government institutions that are meant to serve the interests of all of the people, not an intrenched, entitled few.”
—Too bad they don’t limit their own corruption, not to mention labor unions and the American Bar Association.
Progressives don’t trust the people, they think we’re stupid, that Fox News is going to manipulate us, that General Motors is gonna make us buy cars we don’t want. The truth is very different, we are a nation of individuals and the last thing we want is progressives protecting us from ourselves.
I don’t need Obama to tell me that I’m a bitter guy clinging to my guns and bible. I’d rather cling to that than to his hope and change which delivers neither.
posted by Jimmy on
“Progressives don’t trust the people, they think we’re stupid”
We think SOME of you are stupid.
“I don’t need Obama to tell me that I’m a bitter guy clinging to my guns and bible. I’d rather cling to that than to his hope and change which delivers neither.”
We’ll be glad to leave you to that, then. In the mean time, we will have moved on. You’ll still get to play with your little pistol and your toy soldiers, don’t worry.
posted by North Dallas Thirty on
I believe the law is a qualifier on law breakers. Always has been.
Not really, since the gay-sex liberal argument in California is that even convicted criminals are allowed to get married.
Now, again, Tom said ANY citizen. No qualifiers.
Like the tax breaks that were passed, and those currently planned?
More like the massive tax increases passed and planned.
Meanwhile, the hilarity comes when the Obama Party and its mouthpieces scream that taxes need to be raised to make a country more prosperous — by citing a country whose tax rates are LOWER than the United States.
posted by Tom on
I think that Chapman’s article is less about Republicans coming to understand “equality for all”, or even coming to terms with Lawrence, than it is about the fact that Republicans (the platforms of several state GOP parties notwithstanding) have come to understand that the idea of recriminalizing sodomy is so offensive to the vast majority of Americans at this point that pushing recriminalization would cost a lot of votes.
I welcome the day when the Republican Party “gets it” and becomes a standard-bearer in the struggle for equal treatment of gays and lesbians under the law, if and when that happens. And I welcome any and all steps, however small, that the Republican Party takes in the right direction.
I have to tell you, though, that I don’t think that the Republican Party is going to “get it” any time soon. I think that gays and lesbians will have won the war for equality before we win the battle for the “hearts and minds” of the Republican Party. I hope I’m being too pesimistic.
posted by Jorge on
Our rights come from God, not government. This is what the progressives don’t understand.
I don’t think the conservatives understand that, either, else they wouldn’t be trying to deny the existence of so many of them, or being so dead serious about painting the government in the image of their flawed conception of their Creator.
posted by Veteran on
the fight will eventually be won!
And what about the military’s dont ask dont tell!? so dumb.
Check out the link to help a veteran today.
posted by Bobby on
“I don’t think the conservatives understand that, either, else they wouldn’t be trying to deny the existence of so many of them, or being so dead serious about painting the government in the image of their flawed conception of their Creator.”
—I don’t see Glenn Beck fighting to deny any rights. Recently he’s been outraged because the Justice Department dropped the case against to Black Panthers thugs who stood up in front of a polling place holding clubs, and intimidating voters. A white person would have been charged with voter intimidation (the kind of thing the Klan used to do), but in Obama’s world only whites can be guilty of anything.
If these guys had been white and wearing full Klan regalia, they would have been prosecuted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU
America is about equal justice, not social justice, we need to get back to that. And Glenn beck said yesterday, thank God for Fox.