Posted on 01/25/2005 4:37:42 PM PST by Cornpone
Dear Freepers,
I'm getting old and perhaps a little wacky but as I look back over my life I continue to try and understand how my country hasn't quite turned out the way my mother and father brought me up to believe it should be and what it was I was always raised to defend. So I've started making a list of those things that just seem to represent a betrayal of what I always thought America is about...freedom. Its a short list, I'm still working on it and I know many, if not most, will not agree with everything on it. But I'm sure everyone has something to add to it...like the state of medical care in this country which I haven't even begun to think about. Anyway, they are simple things that individually don't amount to much. But, taken together they represent a fundamental change in our culture if you think about it. Please help me add to this list. I don't know what I will do with it. Perhaps I'll just go nail it on the doors of Congress..not likely. I'd rather nail it on the doors of the White House except we can't really go there anymore...another freedom lost.
• Mandatory motorcycle helmet laws
• Mandatory automobile seatbelt laws
• Mandatory boating lifejacket laws
• Increasing erosion of property rights
• Increasing regulation of alcohol consumption, tobacco use and firearms possession
• Virtual elimination of the right to self defense
• Denial of the right to carry a weapon for self defense
• Hate crime laws that ridiculously imply that the murder of one human being is more heinous than the murder of another based on some politically motivated criteria
• Encroachment on the constitutional right to assembly
• Increasing attempts to limit our constitutional right to free speech through hate speech laws that seek to dampen dissident opinions
• Increasing restrictions on demonstrations of personal faith with a bias against Christians
• Increasing restrictions on hunting
• Increasing restrictions on fishing
• Increasing restrictions on the traditional use of fireworks
• Increasing restrictions on traditional methods of outdoor cooking
• Increasing restrictions on water rights and usage
• Increasing government incursion and attempts to regulate the possession of domestic animals which in all cases don’t happen to be ‘pets’
• Unfair taxation to fund social practices abhorrent to most Americans
• Government advocacy of socially deviant lifestyles
• Government attempts to redefine millennia-old family relationships and bonds, i.e., gay marriage
• Affirmative action laws and policies that unjustly punish and deny opportunity to current generations based on the shortcomings of generations long past
• Ridiculous product liability judgments that seek to limit access and deny choice through judicial activism rather than legislative debate
Add your thoughts to the list please.
God Bless our Forefathers and God Bless You
Friend,
I hope I didn't offend but it seems every time I bring these issues up I get confronted with someone that sounds like a lawyer trying to argue against what I consider common sense interpretation of our rights. Unfortunately it seems we almost have to have a lawyer just to conduct our everyday affairs...like going to the doctor.
Anyway, I'm afraid you have it backwards. The constitution explicitly establishes that which cannot be breached by any government entity. Anything that is not explicitly protected by the constitution is at the discretion of the States...or so it was until about 100 years ago. The constitution gives us the right of assembly. No inferior government entity can deny that. Many of our laws today are unconstitutional. Its just that no one cares to challenge them.
I don't think many of the young so-called conservatives are going to agree with you.
Dear CBart95,
You wouldn't recognize freedom if it kicked you in the b*lls. What are you 15?
Perhaps that explains why I take such pleasure in growing old and increasingly find myself immersed in the memories of my childhood and what America was 50 years ago. While I truly enjoy this forum it would perhaps be better if I just let the past entertain me.
"You bunch of whiners need to grow up. WE HAVE MORE FREEDOM THAN ANY OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!"
So just because we get beat up less than the other poor socialist jerks around the world, we're supposed to feel good about it? Would it be to much to ask for a little of the freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights or would that be whining?
I understand your argument. I've often thought of starting a family business but the cards are stacked against me. Free enterprise is now questionable.
ping...thanks for being so kind...thought you might be interested in joining this string...or maybe not...pass it on if you are...regards...cornpone
In some cases, as in the second Amendment.
Anything that is not explicitly protected by the constitution is at the discretion of the States...or so it was until about 100 years ago.
I'd phrase it differently. The constitution constrains the federal government to specific enumerated powers. Anything else it leaves to the states and the people.
One of the things left to the states: the power to establish state sponsored religions.
Dear Secretagent,
Phrase it anyway you want as long as it is true. Just pick up the torch and carry it. I may not say it right but I try to make as much sense as I can with an aging mind. At least I got your attention. Keep the flame of freedom alive.
Thank you for caring enough to speak out.
When clintoon won the first time I walked into a saloon and one of the guys I know asked me my opinion about "gays" in the military. I said great (which just about floored him) and then said ya never have to dig a "grenade sump" in your fighting hole again.
If a grenade comes in you just throw the fag on it.
Dear dljordan,
I could not find the post that prompted your reply but I'm sure it justified such an eloquent response from you. Freedom reigns.
The Kennedy's live off of the money in their "Foundations."
Just as do the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Fords, the Rothschilds, and numerous others. Many of these foundations are controlled by people involved in the media such as the New York Times. It is a rigged game.
These hypocrites tend to support the death taxes which they are immune from. Taxing succesful dead people is one way that the elites maintain their status quo!
For example, several states had established state religions (Christian). That didn't contradict the first amendment, which only prohibited the federal government from establishing a religion.
In theory, at least, the 14th amendment extended the US Constitution's protections, which is why no states have established religions any more, nor do they restrict voting rights or take property, etc...
Creates soscila pathologies that inspire calls for more government programs
The right to discriminate. Or, if you prefer, the right of free association.
If there is no where else to go to then the only other alternative is to stand and fight.
I'm not absolutely sure of your meaning but I will say the following. Many words in our language have been perverted in our culture of PC correctness and doublespeak. I used to be a student of the English language many years ago. Discrimination implies the right to choose..nothing more. We should all have the right to choose our associations in our private lives.
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