This Yank won't be giving up any of his rights. I learned several years ago (on FR) that 'unalienable' not only means "can't be taken from" it also means "can't be given away." That crystallized for me just how superbly the Founding Fathers had crafted the DoI and the Constitution.
They weren't just great documents they were magnificent works of profound character and meaning. "But of course!," I thought, "what God bestows can no more be relinquished than it can be stolen. Not even the possessor of the rights has the power to affect them. My rights exist by no man's thought nor word nor action. Not even mine. As I exist my rights exist."
It was not a new thought that the DoI and Constitution were unique and that they put government last in the hierarchical line of power and authority. (as it should be) But it gave me a new sense of just how intensely scrutinized every word and every concept in them was.
There wasn't the least bit of careless zeal or unconscious hubris allowed to remain in their efforts. They weren't claiming anything by their own power and weren't going to leave any back doors in the program to allow it to be changed from within by someone who did claim that power later. (if they could help it) They were talking about an operating system they didn't even write and had no means to scrub. The natural order. What is what was and what would always be.
Brilliant! says I. So,! you're going to take my rights!?! You want me to surrender them over to you!?! You're going to have to bring God Almighty Himself in Person to ratify that!!! Otherwise all you've got is a temporal wrassling match with me and neither you nor I gets to make the final call.
So, that's how I feel about my rights. :-)
BTW, aren't you going to become a Yank soon? I mean, apart from in spirit, a technically and officially gooberment documented Yank?
I’ve enjoyed our discussion on this thread, too. It’s been refreshing.
I hadn’t thought of “unalienable” in quite those terms before, until you just pointed out that they are rights that can’t be relinquished any more than they can be taken. That actually makes alot of sense.
Your Founding Fathers were indeed very wise men with magnificent vision.
You write:
> BTW, aren’t you going to become a Yank soon? I mean, apart from in spirit, a technically and officially gooberment documented Yank?
I would do it in a heart-beat, except that three other Nations hold prior claim on my Loyalty. I am a Citizen of Canada and the UK by birth, and of New Zealand by Naturalization.
The United States (I believe) would require me to relinquish these loyalties were I to become a Citizen of the US, as I have been told that the US does not permit the concept of Dual Citizenship. I don’t feel I could jettison my loyalties like that with any good conscience: as a Patriot that’s just not something I am able to do.
So instead I do the next best thing, and resolve to be the very best and most loyal friend that America could possibly ask for. I have a feeling that America will need a few of us in the coming years.
God Bless America
*DieHard*