Friday, July 06, 2012

Post #145 America The Beautiful!, Pt. II

Are all men created equal? Absolutely: The Declaration of Independence, like the Constitution, does not classify people according to sex or race. The Declaration of Independence's central proposition -- equality -- applies to men and women alike, regardless of skin color (or religion, for that matter). The observed inequalities of individual men and women -- in intelligence or strength, for examples -- are insignificant and dramatically underscore the ways in which all human beings, as a species, are equal in their nature. The Declaration of Independence speaks of "all men" and not "all human beings" because the former is a more rhetorically powerful way to describe mankind. Another way to think of this is that all humans have equal value -- everyone has an equal standing before the law.

Yes, much of the preceding paragraph came, word for word, from the American Heritage website. If the preceding paragraph does not match your bigotry, take it up with the American Heritage folks.

Does our unalienable right to Life interfere with others' unalienable rights? Absolutely not. The Declaration of Independence enshrines three basic rights: the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The right to Life protects the individual's ability to take all those actions necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of his life -- buying health insurance, for example. There is only one fundamental right, from which all other rights are derived: A man's right to his own life. Life is the vessel which carries both our Liberty and Happiness. So, our unalienable right to Life TRUMPS Donald Trump's right to a tax cut (his pursuit of Happiness). Since life is the standard and the fundamental justification for all rights and all values, a "right" that makes life impossible is a wicked, life-negating contradiction. Selfishness is NOT a virtue -- it is part of greed, one of the seven deadly sins!

Wasn't Ayn Rand an atheist? Not that there's anything wrong with that! :p

Governments of the people and by the people that tax have a responsibility for the people. Of course. governments do many things poorly that the private sector can do better -- Government: Thy middle name is "waste and fraud." But an essential role of government is to do the heavy-lifting that the private sector cannot do -- Obamacare promotes freedom by giving real choices for citizens. If you have ever been mugged by Life, you will understand the tyranny, not of government, but of the social dynamics that define our health care system. The freedom to be left alone is no real freedom at all, since Obamacare -- or Romneycare or Medicare4all -- is essential to the possibility of valuable options in life -- the freedom to be left alone interferes with government securing our unalienable rights, which is why governments are instituted in the first place. The freedom to be left alone is really a call for anarchy.

Brotherhood -- a feeling of fellowship and sympathy and compassion for other people

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

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