But, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," Ronald Reagan eloquently stated.
The freedom enjoyed by American citizens in the first one hundred fifty years of this country were not the result of the kind of government we had, but the fact there was so little of it. We have essentially the same kind of government today, but do not enjoy anything like the kind of freedom American citizens enjoyed as little as a hundred, of even sixty, years ago.
[From the article]
See, that's just it. If you live in a lilly-White ivory tower, you *might* be able to tell yourself that we were more free 70 years ago
We the people, - [the socalled 'white' majority] - unarguably were. However, no one claims that it was a perfect society.
when FDR made it illegal to own gold,
-[unconstitutional edict]-
when Jim Crowe meant that Blacks couldn't vote,
-[unconstitutional]-
and when women were legally kept out of military colleges and many universities,
-[freedom of association]- <
as well as actively discriminated against (both women and Blacks) in numerous professions such as Medical, Legal, and in corporate boardrooms.
We can all agree that these were unconstitutional disciminations if written into federal,state, or local ~law~. Most were not. They were custom, bigoted nasty customs to be sure, but writing law to enforce 'customs & moralities' is not easily done in a free republic. We lose the freedom of free association.
And whether it was a Democrat like FDR banning gold, or a fascist temperance movement banning alcohol and gambling, or Democrats using Blacks as living medical experiments against their will (i.e. without consent) ala the Tuskegee Experiment that lasted up until recently, it just doesn't matter to these people.
All those unconstitutional acts "mattered" to a LOT of people.. On gold & booze they were outvoted by a tyranny of the majority, -- for a while.. - Then the system corrected itself.
They don't care that a Republican like Nixon ended the ban on owning gold. they don't care who shut down unethical and illegal medical experiments. They don't care that Republicans died in the streets of the South registering Blacks to vote in the face of the Democratic Party machine's opposition (all of the policemen were Democrats who beat the civil rights marchers on the Edmund Petus Bridge here in Alabama, for instance). Oh no, forget facts. Forget our history.
Such a sad, emotional little appeal. No one is forgetting history, southack. We are learning from it in some areas, [civil rights], but ignoring it in others [big government doesn't work].
Some people are so uneducated and so isolated in their own little worlds that they think we were more free 60 years ago when the military was segregated and half of the South had restraunts with "No Coloreds" signs.
Yep, 'we' were, blacks weren't. -- That's been changed for the better. Many other individual freedoms have been lost.
They don't even know that their precious Hollywood and NYC and their anti-Black racism was why early American TV had White men made up in "blackface" to play Black roles rather than hire Black men...or that blood in Illinois and New Jersey had to be certified as White or Colored at one point, lest some White union schmuck get Black blood into him from an operation.
Sigh. -- Amos & Andy was radio show on TV. Get over it. The two state 'laws' were obviously unconstitutional. Get real.
Even forgetting racism and sexism, America of 20, 30, and 40 years ago had widespread bans on civilians carrying firearms.
Again, unconstitutional. There are lots of unconstitutional laws on the books, hack. They don't prove ~your~ point.
It's only been in the last 15 years that CCW has swept our great nation, re-empowering the individual again.
Under State control & regulation, however. But CCW is a start.
10 years ago it was illegal, yes, illegal to make a profit from anything on the internet, too. The eBay concept was illegal. Amazon.com's concept was illegal. Free Republic taking donations was in the gray area back then. Trading stocks via the Internet was likewise illegal.
A few good laws increasing our individual freedoms do not balance the thousands passed in the same period that decreased them, hack. YOu are simply in denial.
Heck, in two weeks the Assault Weapons Ban will expire, yet we'll still hear these same know-nothings tell us that we're less free today than in the past.
Amusing. -- In 1932 there were NO federal gun laws. Now you claim that we are the "know-nothings"? look in the mirror hack.
We've armed our pilots, repealing the first federal gun control regulations in our history, yet these know-nothings will claim that we are less free today than back when pilots couldn't pack heat.
Pilots were disarmed before the NFA?
How embarassing it must be for the few who spout such nonsense to finally realize that we are *all* more free today than in the past 160 years, and for women and Blacks, that we are more free today than ever before in history. 5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
And we will soon have another version of it no matter which 'party' wins the White House.
You live in a dream world hack.
"Again, unconstitutional. There are lots of unconstitutional laws on the books, hack. They don't prove ~your~ point."
Only to you, and only because you *missed* my point. My point was not whether the freedom-choking laws and customs of the past were constitutional or not, but rather, that we are more free today than then.
What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1930? Buy sell, and drink alcohol. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1935? Buy, sell, and trade gold. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1940? Join a desegregated, color-blind military. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1950 without risk to life and limb? Register Blacks to vote. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1960? Put our daughters through any medical, legal, or military university. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1970? Carry concealed weapons. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1980? Arm our commercial pilots. What can we do today that we couldn't do in 1990? Make money on the Internet (remember, the internet was around back then, but it was against the law to use it for profit or personal gain).
We don't have to fill out environmental impact statements before building logging roads anymore, either.
so whether talking about Blacks who can now vote, women who can now get any education and job that they want, or the rest of us making a living on the internet, in gold, or in our forests, we are incontrovertibly more free today than 70, 40, or even 10 years ago. We certainly pay less in federal taxes now than in the last half century.
More free today. Less free in the past. That was my point, and I've given you a substantial number of examples of precisely that fact.
In return, you've claimed that we are less free today than in the past. Where are your examples?
5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires