[resident_geek]

Today is not Independence Day. Of course, according to the sticklers, neither was the 4th of July. It's good to have perspective on these things. That said, July 4th is probably just as good a day as any given the fact that the principal at which the Declaration was aimed didn't receive it anyway for at least a few more weeks

Comments

[albionschild]

You have written beautifully, sir, about the spirit of Independence. It is something that I have often thought about, for even in the darkest, most contentious battles over slavery that happened in Congress in those years leading up to the Civil War, both sides spoke of that spirit. So fundamental to the American imagination is this notion of freedom that we do not long, in the grand scheme of time, tolerate oppression in our midst. Once oppression can be identified, its existence agreed upon (the most difficult part), it is often swiftly washed away.

I concur with your assessment of term limits. Perpetual representatives are no better than oligarchs. Career politician is simply our republican way of saying aristocrat. There is something to be said of experience, certainly. But Washington's glitter is too alluring for even the most steadfast of public servants. Too much time spent on the receptive end of praise and prestige can only lead to arrogance or complacency. Neither of which is palatable in a representative.

[pwwka]

But why, I wonder, do we not tolerate oppression in our midst? What has been added to our values in that sense? Why was slavery considered oppression, when before it was merely the legitimate outcome of war?

I didn't used to be for term limits. I figured a cadre of politicians taking over for one another was just as bad. In some states, it doesn't even matter who is running so much as which party will win. In some states, however, it does matter, and for them, perhaps term limits are best. Nationally, anyway. I suppose we could always repeal such an amendment if it did not suit us.

[pwwka]

I had more of a problem with the U.S. exporting dictatorship at the barrel of the gifted gun. In South America, Africa, and heck, originally backing Saddam in Iraq...

I didn't have a problem with exporting democracy to Germany at the barrel of a gun. And I don't think the Kurds minded when we did as much in Iraq. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective.
-----

I had a quibble with taking The Great Explosion's MYOB as an ideal to live by. It was great satire, mind. Brilliant. And the Freedom = I Won't thing works well -- if you have no people you love better than yourself, for whose safety one can be compelled. A parent can be compelled by threats to his or her children, for instance. That's where MYOB falls through for me. Each planet, for purpose of satire, was purposefully simplified. In this instance, the Idle story was of a mere lazy man. What of a murderer? What of a demagogue? Remember the belief behind the Constitution: that mankind is motivated by greed, not goodness. The first planet -- the prison planet -- exemplifies

italo luci

[anonymous]

Hi