Posts with the tag 'The United States of America'
Well, some times it is an outsider who can really distill what its all about:
The Founding Fathers of the United States asserted their claim to freedom and independence on the basis of certain “self-evident” truths about the human person: truths which could be discerned in human nature, built into it by “nature’s God.” Thus they meant to bring into being, not just an independent territory, but a great experiment in what George Washington called “ordered liberty”: an experiment in which men and women would enjoy equality of rights and opportunities in the pursuit of happiness and in service to the common good. Reading the founding documents of the United States, one has to be impressed by the concept of freedom they enshrine: a freedom designed to enable people to fulfill their duties and responsibilities toward the family and toward the common good of the community. Their authors clearly understood that there could be no true freedom without moral responsibility and accountability, and no happiness without respect and support for the natural units or groupings through which people exist, develop, and seek the higher purposes of life in concert with others.
The American democratic experiment has been successful in many ways. Millions of people around the world look to the United States as a model in their search for freedom, dignity, and prosperity. But the continuing success of American democracy depends on the degree to which each new generation, native-born and immigrant, makes its own the moral truths on which the Founding Fathers staked the future of your Republic. Their commitment to build a free society with liberty and justice for all must be constantly renewed if the United States is to fulfill the destiny to which the Founders pledged their “lives . . . fortunes . . . and sacred honor.”
I am happy to take note of your words confirming the importance that your government attaches, in its relations with countries around the world, to the promotion of human rights and particularly to the fundamental human right of religious freedom, which is the guarantee of every other human right. Respect for religious conviction played no small part in the birth and early development of the United States. Thus John Dickinson, Chairman of the Committee for the Declaration of Independence, said in 1776: “Our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of preexisting rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and the Lord of all the earth.” Indeed it may be asked whether the American democratic experiment would have been possible, or how well it will succeed in the future, without a deeply rooted vision of divine providence over the individual and over the fate of nations. - Pope John Paul II, December 16, 1997
Tags: John Paul II, The United States of America
July 6th, 2008
Out here in Las Vegas we did the usual - a rather general popular defiance of the laws against rocket-type fireworks. That plus a few hundred thousand out of towners dropping by to pay a goodly portion of our State budget for next year.
What did you do?
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: Here’s where I was Friday…
Tags: The United States of America
July 5th, 2008
…If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! - Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
Tags: Patrick Henry, The United States of America
July 4th, 2008
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
These inspiring words are what it means to be an American. One can believe a lot of things, but unless one subscribes whole heartedly to every iota of our sublime Declaration, then one is not an American. Outside the bible, there are no words written by the hand of Man more valuable.
Tags: Fourth of July, The United States of America
July 4th, 2008
Matthew Rothschild over at The Progressive:
…those things that truly made us great—the system of checks and balances, the enshrinement of our individual rights and liberties—have all been systematically assaulted by Bush and Cheney.
From the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act to the new FISA Act, and all the signing statements in between, we are less great today.
From Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base and Guantanamo, we are less great today.
From National Security Presidential Directive 51 (giving the Executive responsibility for ensuring constitutional government in an emergency) to National Security Presidential Directive 59 (expanding the collection of our biometric data), we are less great today.
From the Joint Terrorism Task Forces to InfraGard and the Terrorist Liaison Officers, we are less great today.
Admit it. We don’t have a lot to brag about today.
It is time, it is long past time, to get over the American superiority complex.
It is time, it is long past time, to put patriotism back on the shelf—out of the reach of children and madmen.
The madmen would presumptively be Bush and Cheney - now, to be fair to Mr. Rothschild, he does list other American sins which are noy intrinsic to Bush/Cheney - our consumerism and other evils, real and imagined, which the left dredges up from time to time to prove that we’re a bunch of creeps…and if we’d only all become leftists, all would be made better. The curious thing about Mr. Rothschild’s article is that it starts out condemning nationalism - even saying that it is a worse killer than religion, and that is a great concession on the part of any leftist. After all, the whole point of religion - and especially Christianity, and most especially Catholicism - is to kill and destroy and hold down…so to say that nationalism is a bigger ill is astounding, and demonstrates the author’s sincerity in being the anti-patriot.
And yet, he ends his bit by lamenting the way Bush and Cheney have allegedly done away with the US Constitution - in other words, he’s distressed over the supposed demise of a national government. This would seem to indicate that it isn’t really nationalism which gets Mr. Rothschild upset, but a sort of nationalism he doesn’t like. He’s convinced himself that if only we could recover our old, hallowed Constitutional structure, we’d be a better nation…no reactionary ever said it better (side note: the curious thing about leftists is how very reactionary they actually are).
Earlier in the piece the author condemns another writer for pointing out that we love our nation the same way we love our family - because they are ours. Mr. Rothschild doesn’t like this concept at all - in fact, he’s of the opinion that there’s something inherently wrong with loving the nation you’re born in simply because it is your native land - such love is somehow imposed and thus false. For Mr. Rothschild, we should love what is lovable - which is true, in a very narrow sense, but the real test of human character is to love what is unlovely.
It is easy to love the sublime, much harder to find the love in the ridiculous. Given that most human actions tend towards the latter, however, if we are to really love at all, then we’re going to have to set our minds to loving those things which we find disagreeable. Its either that, or hardly have any love at all. The great hearted person looks upon America - warts and all - and still says, “I love you”. Just as a good man will say of his wife that she is beautiful, even if her prime was some time ago - just as a kindly person will observe the flawed, remember his own flaws, and then seek out what is wonderful amongst the flaws, and build on that. If we’re to suspend our love of country - our patriotism, that is - until such time as our country exactly suits us, then we will wait forever, and never get what we want. To hold to Mr. Rothschild’s view is to hold a view common to a petulant child, but not something a mature mind concerns itself with.
I, on the other than, do love America - even Mr. Rothschild, and those like him. I wouldn’t dream of having an America without them - they are mine, and so I love them, even as I hope they’ll eventually change their views. I love this land not because it is perfect, but because it has much good in it, and I’ll concentrate on that and seek to expand that, in order that this land I love becomes more lovable over time, even though it will never through human agency become entirely lovable.
Tags: The United States of America
July 3rd, 2008
