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Title: Does the fiery spirit of 1776 still burn?
Source:
St. Petersburg Times Online
URL Source: http://www.sptimes.com/News/070401/ ... ns/Does_the_fiery_spirit.shtml
Published: Jul 4, 2001
Author: Howard Troxler
Post Date: 2008-02-22 22:08:12 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 486
Comments: 34
Today we celebrate our right to overthrow the government. There is no pussyfooting around this fact. It is the central meaning of Independence Day. Today's firecrackers are reminders of the bloody war we were willing to fight against the British to win freedom. Bang. We can try to rename today's holiday the more innocuous "Fourth of July." We can outlaw firecrackers on the grounds of nuisance and fire hazard and you'll-put-somebody's-eye-out. But so far nobody has been able to rewrite the Declaration of Independence itself, and the words of that document are crystal clear. Today is a spiritual, passionate, angry, violent holiday for a modern society that is squeamish about every one of those adjectives. If you get a chance today, you should read the actual words of the Declaration. Read the whole thing. It's even better out loud. Imagine you are really fed up while you're reading it. When you get to the list of abuses by King George III, you will get angrier and angrier. I still do. 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. Endowed by their Creator! Were the Framers deftly sidestepping the word "God," or in their day did they simply assume that one word was synonymous with the other? Either way is fine -- the point is that we have inherent rights that can never be taken away. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. There's the Big Idea. Government gets its authority from the consent of the people. It is one of the most important political things anybody ever said, except maybe for the next sentence . . . 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... And that is the gist of it. The people give the government its power. If the government becomes tyrannical, the people have the right to cast it off. This does not mean that the Framers intended us to start a revolution every time we got ticked off. It does not bestow any moral authority on kooks and extremists. In fact, Jefferson and his editors stressed just the opposite: government should not be changed for "light and transient causes." 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. Legally speaking, do you know how much weight the Declaration of Independence carries today? None. Zippo. The Constitution is the sole basis of our government. Yet the Constitution would not have been possible without the Declaration -- it is the "new Guard." An opinion survey this week said 66 percent of us do not believe Americans would be as willing to call for a revolution today as they were 225 years ago. But are we really so puny? We have glorified the Revolution over the past two and a quarter centuries. The truth is it was a controversial and divisive time. A lot of colonists wanted the King to win. They were willing to live under tyranny for a little extra security. Do you think they magically grew a better crop of human beings in the 1700s? Or did Americans of that era rise to the occasion, just as they did in a Civil War, in a terrible Depression, in two 20th-century wars against global evil? In our modern life we are fat and happy and safe and selfish. The question for today is whether in that comfort and selfishness, an essential American idea has been extinguished, or is just sleeping. 
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#14. To: X-15 (#0)
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. Endowed by their Creator! Were the Framers deftly sidestepping the word "God," yes, and more specifically the name Jesus Christ, who is God Almighty [Isaiah 9:6-7 http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Isa/Isa009.html#6 ], and upon whom this government was to be founded [ http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mic/Mic004.html#1 / http://www.blueletterbible.org/tsk_b/Mic/4/1.html . http://www.blueletterbible.org/Eze/Eze034.html#11 -13 / http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mat/Mat015.html#24 / http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Jhn/Jhn010.html "....We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government:...... .....Provided always, and our Will and Pleasure is, and we do hereby declare to all Christian Kings, Princes, and States, that if any Person or Persons which shall hereafter be of any of the said several Colonies and Plantations, or any other, by his, their, or any of their Licence and Appointment, shall, at any Time or Times hereafter, rob or spoil, by Sea or Land, or do any Act of unjust and unlawful Hostility to any the Subjects of Us, our Heirs, or Successors, or any the Subjects of any King, Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, being then in League or Amitie with Us, our Heirs, or Successors, and that upon such Injury, or upon just Complaint of such Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, or their Subjects, We, our Heirs, or Successors, shall make open Proclamation, within any of the Ports of our Realm of England, commodious for that purpose, That the said Person or Persons, having committed any such robbery, or Spoil, shall, within the term to be limited by such Proclamations, make full Restitution or Satisfaction of all such Injuries done, so as the said Princes, or others so complaining, may hold themselves fully satisfied and contented; And, that if the said Person or Persons, having committed such Robery or Spoil, shall not make, or cause to be made Satisfaction accordingly, within such Time so to be limited, That then it shall be lawful to Us, our Heirs, and Successors, to put the said Person or Persons, having committed such Robbery or Spoil, and their Procurers, Abettors, and Comforters, out of our Allegiance and Protection; And that it shall be lawful and free, for all Princes, and others to pursue with hostility the said offenders, and every of them, and their and every of their Procurers, Aiders, abettors, and comforters, in that behalf......" First Charter of Virginia, 1606 www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va01.htm MOURN on the 4th of July! Vine & Fig Tree is a non-profit charitable religious organization dedicated to overthrowing the ... The Declaration, which never mentions Jesus Christ, ... http://members.aol.com/xiananarch/cause/1776.htm Geprge Washington's Lasting Gift to Generations of Jews http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0915/p12s01-lire.html Jews' Gift to Christian Americans: http://www.cephas-library.com/nw...ts_will_replace_ours.html American Citizen, or U.S. citizen? That corporate citizen is subject to its creator, the U.S. government, ... This citizen has only privileges and immunities under the 14th Amendment. ... usa-the-republic.com/reve...rue_history/AffTruth.html Exodus 19:4/John 14:3/Ezekiel 17:1-10/John 15:1/Matthew 15:13.
I sure hope the government sterilized you at birth.
come again?
What does that have to do with the bullshit about "jooz" creating the USA? Brah.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0915/p12s01-lire.html Jews' Gift to Christian Americans: http://www.cephas-library.com/nw...ts_will_replace_ours.html This fearmongering christian fanatic bullshit.
Helter skelter in a summer swelter. Oh, but we never got the chance!
I don't mind stealing bread From the mouths of decadence But I can't feed on the powerless When my cup's already overfilled Yeah But it's on the table The fire's cooking And they're farming babies The slaves are all working Blood is on the table The mouths are all choking But I'm goin' hungry Yeah I don't mind stealing bread From the mouths of decadence But I can't feed on the powerless When my cup's already overfilled Oho, ah But it's on the table The fire is cooking And they're farming babies The slaves are all working And it's on the table Their mouths are all choking I don't mind stealing bread From the mouths of decadence
#24. To: Ninpo (#23)
That's my dream...and my nightmare.
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#15. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#14)
#17. To: Ninpo (#15)
#19. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#17)
#20. To: Ninpo (#19)
What exactly is it you are trying to say...in English please.
#21. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#20)
Geprge Washington's Lasting Gift to Generations of Jews
#22. To: Ninpo (#21)
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
#23. To: Dakmar (#22)
Replies to Comment # 23. The fire is cooking And they're farming babies The slaves are all working And it's on the table
End Trace Mode for Comment # 23.