Liberal Citizen: They Declared Independence & Forged a Nation. What's Our Duty?

Jul 3, 2005

They Declared Independence & Forged a Nation. What's Our Duty?

The Declaration of Independence gave birth to our country, but it was one of the many important steps that made us who we are today. In addition to taking the time to watch the 4th of July fireworks and enjoy other leisure activities, we should take time to reminisce about out nation's history. Pick up a book, take a few moments to think what the United States means to you, discuss your views with your friends and family, and make a pledge to help your country by being informed and engaged. When Benjamin Franklin was asked by a passerby in the streets of Philadelphia 229 years ago what the founding fathers were doing, he replied, "we made a country, now it's up to you to keep it!"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: That's for sure. We need to know a lot more about our past. Those who don't know their history run the danger of repeating past mistakes.

Ron, CT; July 03, 2005
Anonymous said...: I think our schools should be doing more about teaching our history especially its dark legacies. Being sensitive about issues such as slavery, segregation, treatment of the native Americans, struggle for civil rights, etc. doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about them. Thanks Andros for always remind us that being a good American patriot means more than a day or two off.
Alicia, NYC; July 03, 2005
Anonymous said...: What American activities are you going to be doing this extended weekend? I'm decompressing... turning off my cell, reading no news, watching no tv.....

But, I do agree with you that we should be informed and engaged. I think I am, therefore I do!

;-); July 03, 2005

The Wishes of Conservatives

What kind of society, exactly, do modern Republicans want? [...] They say they want a smaller government but that can’t be it. Most seek a larger national defense and more muscular homeland security. Almost all want to widen the government’s powers of search and surveillance inside the United States – eradicating possible terrorists, expunging undocumented immigrants, “securing” the nation’s borders. They want stiffer criminal sentences, including broader application of the death penalty. Many also want government to intrude on the most intimate aspects of private life.

"They call themselves conservatives but that’s not it, either. They don’t want to conserve what we now have. They’d rather take the country backwards – before the 1960s and 1970s, and the Environmental Protection Act, Medicare, and Medicaid; before the New Deal, and its provision for Social Security, unemployment insurance, the forty-hour workweek, and official recognition of trade unions; even before the Progressive Era, and the first national income tax, antitrust laws, and Federal Reserve.

They’re not conservatives. They’re regressives. And the America they seek is the one we had in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century."

Robert Reich

A Form of Child Abuse

I have an affinity for education, but I define education as a means to learning, not indoctrination. Every child starts with a blank slate, so it's up to the parents and the society-at-large to rear this young human being into a critically-thinking adult. When you teach religion as fact--like people literally turning into pillars of salt, snakes bite the sinners, the earth is only 6,000 years old, and all that garbage--then it's a form of child abuse. It's stunting the development of the human mind and turning people into obedient ignoramuses.

Jesus Camp, anyone?!

Dangerous Attitudes

"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next fifty years. According to the most common interpretation of biblical prophecy, Jesus will return only after things have gone horribly awry here on earth. It is, therefore, not an exaggeration to say that if the city of New York were suddenly replaced by a ball of fire, some significant percentage of the American population would see a silver lining in the subsequent mushroom cloud, as it would suggest to them that the best thing that is ever going to happen was about to happen—the return of Christ.

It should be blindingly obvious that beliefs of this sort will do little to help us create a durable future for ourselves—socially, economically, environmentally, or geopolitically. Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."
Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation.

With beliefs like this, who cares about climate change? Maybe Marge Simpson is right...

An Easy Step to Help the Environment

Do you get tons of catalogs that clutter your mailbox? Catalogs that you don't really use since it's easier and more up-to-date to simply use the internet? Here's something you can do to help yourself and save a few trees: Catalog Choice, a sponsored project of the Ecology Center, whose mission is to "improve the efficiency of catalog distribution by reducing the number of repeat and unsolicited mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices."

Give it a try. It's free & easy.

Quoting intelligence...

"Being a cynic is contemptibly easy. If you let yourself think that nothing you're working on is ever going to make a difference, why bust your tail over it? Why care? If you're a cynic, you don't have to invest anything in your work. No effort, no pride, no compassion, no sense of excellence, nothing...

..Any good teacher will tell you that aiming at the lowest common denominator is poor practice. In communicating anything, you do better if you aim slightly above the heads of your audience. If you make them stretch a little, they respond better. If you keep aiming at the dumb ones, you never challenge them and you bore the hell out of the bright ones. You also commit the grievous and pernicious error of thinking the that people is dumb. One of the most horrific results is that the people start to think so themselves."

--Excerpts from Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?

\Lib"er*al\, Adj. 1. Favoring political and social reforms tending towards democracy and personal freedoms; advocating reform or progress. 2. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; open to new ideas for progress. 3. Broad-minded, not bigoted. 4. Advocate of reason & scientific inquiry. 5. Describing Democratic forms of government, as distinguished from monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, and all authoritarian regimes. Classical liberalism is a political and economic philosophy, originally founded on the Enlightenment tradition, that replaced the Old Regime's religious conformity & ascribed status. Individual freedom is the necessary condition for people to reach & fulfill their own potential.

It is also understood that the government of, by, and for the people must be accountable to the people but also serve the public good! Liberals in the US are different than most of the European liberals. Beginning with FDR, the role of government has been redefined as one that mitigates the inequities of the free market system, and it creates conditions for individuals to reach their own potential. All advanced, prosperous, healthy, and happy societies have adopted this brand of liberalism.

*
Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end. Immanuel Kant

*
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin

*
"Being a cynic is contemptibly easy. If you let yourself think that nothing you're working on is ever going to make a difference, why bust your tail over it? Why care? If you're a cynic, you don't have to invest anything in your work. No effort, no pride, no compassion, no sense of excellence, nothing...
..Any good teacher will tell you that aiming at the lowest common denominator is poor practice. In communicating anything, you do better if you aim slightly above the heads of your audience. If you make them stretch a little, they respond better. If you keep aiming at the dumb ones, you never challenge them and you bore the hell out of the bright ones. You also commit the grievous and pernicious error of thinking the that people is dumb. One of the most horrific results is that the people start to think so themselves."
--Excerpts from Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?

Liberal Citizen

Jul 3, 2005

They Declared Independence & Forged a Nation. What's Our Duty?

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