Well said. Of course all we can do at this late date is speculate.
Still, we have had 244 years in which we might have built a nation
that really served all the people, rather than the mostly white, male
property owners.
We listened to yesterday's Fourth of July speech this morning, because
we got up too early and needed something to warm us up. It's not
normal July weather, very wet and a bit on the chilly side. But we're
doing our part in saving the atmosphere by not burning propane or
wood. Funny thing about Donald Trump's speeches, I used to wish that
we had anyone other than George Bush II to listen to.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/5/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
I don't know how you can stand to listen to him. I can barely tolerate
hearing the short clips of what he says that are played on podcasts. I could
never sit through a whole speech.
Yesterday, I heard someone question whether or not our war of independence
was necessary in order to achieve a workable democratic society. It was
pointed out that Canada has done at least as well as the US, perhaps even
better if you look at their medical system and their lack of a history of
slavery, than the US, without declaring their independence from Great
Britain in a revolutionary war. And I'm not convinced that our constitution
is better than most. In practice, our political and legal system has turned
out to be deeply flawed.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, July 5, 2020 12:57 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: UNAC: On This Fourth of
July,https://socialistaction.org/2020/07/04/unac-on-this-fourth-of-july/
Richard Dawkins speaks truth...as far as we know it to be at this present
time.
I just finished listening to a speech by Donald Trump that sounded as if it
came straight out of my grade school history book(1940-1949).
Donald Trump regaled us with stories of the four great faces carved upon
Mount Rushmore. Of course it was a Whitewash lesson as told by a White
Supremacist.
There can be no question that the Constitution was heads and shoulders above
any other documents of the day. But it did not mean that it was cast in
concrete, never to be changed. As with any document, changing times make
them obsolete, if not adjusted. And of course, that is exactly what has
happened to our Constitution. While it might be recognized by its drafters,
much of the language in the amendments would shock some of them, and be
strongly opposed by others.
And what does it do for us to raise up those Founding Fathers as if they
were perfect men? They were men of the times they lived in.
Some believed that rank and file Americans should not be allowed to vote.
Some who stood tall for the Rights of Independence were slave owners, and
did not include their human property in such Rights. And some were certain
that women should not concern themselves with Men's Business, such as
politics.
In 244 years from now, as folks look back on these troubled times, how will
they describe our actions?
Will we be trashed because we did not think in "modern terms"? Let us
respect our Founding Fathers as the men they were, struggling to carve a
nation out of a vast continent, beset on one hand by an oppressive British
King, and on the other hand facing the anger of the Indigenous Occupants of
the land they were attempting to take over.
Can't we simply accept that they did what they did due to the world as they
found it? Does that make America any less desirable as a place to live?
Does pointing out our current short comings make us any less Americans?
And by the way, just who is Donald Trump speaking for? I was highly
embarrassed by his speech. It was a political rallying call, declaring many
dedicated Americans as a threat to our nation because we take exception to
much of Donald Trump's behavior.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/5/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
UNAC: On This Fourth of July
https://socialistaction.org/2020/07/04/unac-on-this-fourth-of-july/htt
ps://socialistaction.org/2020/07/04/unac-on-this-fourth-of-july/
--
___
Richard Dawkins
“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond
all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to
compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive,
many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others
are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands
of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be
so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will
automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural
state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons
and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some
people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you
won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice.
The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should
expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no
good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
― Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
