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| do you like our constitution of the United States of America? |
| yes |
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42% |
[ 3 ] |
| no |
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57% |
[ 4 ] |
| dont live in america |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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| Total Votes : 7 |
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:14 pm
i was "debating"(aka proving she has no idea what shes talking about) with my exgf on the wonderfully broad topic of politics when we wondered onto the constitution itself. this is what she had to say about the peice of paper that allows her to talk trash about it.
"right...defend the constitution... It's a miracle that it has lasted this long. Other than the first 10 amendments how much of the constitution do you actually know (without having to look at it)? What does each section mean. What does it really say? Nothing. The constitution does nothing for you other than give you the right to say what you want and pray to who you want to pray to. The constitution was not set up to protect the citizens. It was set up to delegate powers to the government. So for a citizen to want to defend the constitution as much as you do tells me that you really have no idea what you are defending...ANYONE who knows politics knows that. The constitution is a load of crap. Most of it is so vague that even the judicial branch can't figure out what it means. You would be better off finding another document to want to defend."
i already replied to here saying it wasnt the paper i defended it was the ideals on that peice of paper i defended. in my opinion, after studying the ideals of the constitution since i was 13, i believe the constitution is a legal document that helps protect us from an overbearing government and gives us the ability to change the way our government is ran anytime we feel we are being oppressed. am i alone in likeing the constitution or has everyone else adopted her way of thinking?
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:48 pm
Well, personally, I loved thee constitution in it's original form, especially without all of the subjective misinterpretations and assumptions. Where in the original text did it ever say black people or women couldn't vote? Same with slavery, it's kindof like taking a test and a teacher forgetting to say that you're not allowed to cheat; we try to treat people as subhuman to make them inelligeble for it.
But anyway, back on topic. Thomas Jefferson was an awesome guy, and I'm sure he would probably agree with many of the things we agree on in this forum today, people have just twisted his meanings from their original intentions. Like phone tapping, government lynchings for "terrorists" who haven't even been proven in trial, these things tend to spit in the face of what he believed in. My only difference from his beliefs is that I believe capitalism itself can become a ruling force, and that I would take his policies a bit farther. But all in all, he was a good man by my standards. He was definitely a revolutionary in his time, who came to create an entire nation.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:01 pm
its a sad thing to see americans wanting to destroy the things their country was founded on after so many paid in blood to establish it!
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:10 pm
In many ways, she's right. The Constitution was originally written with absolutely no reference to citizen's rights. It was all about what powers which branch has. After it was written, the founding patriarchs realized their oversight and wrote up the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. And Hiroha, the Constution is written extremely vague ON PURPOSE with subjective interpretations in mind. Plus, Thomas Jefferson had nothing to do with the Constitution. He was serving as ambassador to France during the entire Constitutional Convention.
Also, nowhere in the Constitution, including in the amendments, does it say anything about being able to overthrow the government. Not-so-short history lesson: After the revolution, we had a document called the articles of confederation. People generally thought that the government it created was too weak. The economy in Western portions of the US wasn't too great. Farmers were being heavily taxed, driven into poverty, and disenfranchised by the same government that had claimed to save them from all those things during the revolution. Suffice it to say, extreme oppression. A farmer named Daniel Shays led an uprising in western Massachusetts. Nationalists used this rebellion to push for a stronger government that was more able to bully it's citizens. We got the Constitution.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:05 pm
xBRINGxITxDOWNx In many ways, she's right. The Constitution was originally written with absolutely no reference to citizen's rights. It was all about what powers which branch has. After it was written, the founding patriarchs realized their oversight and wrote up the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. And Hiroha, the Constution is written extremely vague ON PURPOSE with subjective interpretations in mind. Plus, Thomas Jefferson had nothing to do with the Constitution. He was serving as ambassador to France during the entire Constitutional Convention. Also, nowhere in the Constitution, including in the amendments, does it say anything about being able to overthrow the government. Not-so-short history lesson: After the revolution, we had a document called the articles of confederation. People generally thought that the government it created was too weak. The economy in Western portions of the US wasn't too great. Farmers were being heavily taxed, driven into poverty, and disenfranchised by the same government that had claimed to save them from all those things during the revolution. Suffice it to say, extreme oppression. A farmer named Daniel Shays led an uprising in western Massachusetts. Nationalists used this rebellion to push for a stronger government that was more able to bully it's citizens. We got the Constitution. Indeed it was, but in my opinion, it was written so vaguely to preserve those rights. In my opinion, phone tapping, racism, sexism; is that being too specific, or not specific enough? You decide. As for the actual writing of the constitution, my history may be a bit rusty, but I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Bill of Rights, though I'm not so sure about the rest if the constitution. If not, then I must be thinking of the declaration of independance, which was a major guiding hand in the creation of the constitution, along with the want for their individual freedoms among the convention. I'm not saying they were completely uncorrupt, but ever since then all we've done is correct our own modifications and interpretations of it. Hmm, and if they were less able to bully citizens before, then what group of restrictions would that be? All the constitution really did was organize the country. Though, mostly, the main concern was like it is with our own laws in our own guild; to keep everyone's choice still on the table, and keep the branches of government in check. Before then, not just civil rights laws were vague and unspecific; therefore, they could make it up as they enforce it, seeing as the rules were so vaguely defined. Vague laws are definitely not the same as no laws; the government has more power that way because they can bend their rules even more.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:17 pm
this was my response to her:
"its more the things written on that peice of paper that i defend then the paper itself. just like the flag. its not the flag itself i defend, its the nation and beliefs it holds(or at least held at one time.) i believe the rights stated in the constitution are given to me not from the constitution, but of the fact that i was born a human being and i do believe that everyone should have a fair shot at life. the only reason i fight for that peice of paper is because in this world, if it isnt written down, its not recognized. its lasted this long cuz there are people out there ready to die for the beliefs written on it, i would gladly be one of them. so you can say what you like about the constitution. just remember that it helped you become who you are and it allows you to speak so freely about its existence. "
yeah i remember shays rebellion and the articles of confederation from history class in high school.
i can see the validity of the argument that it wasnt meant to. but the fact is that it does give us habeaus corpus and our rights to freedom of speech and right to arms. i only fight for it because if we lose that peice of paper, they will say that it is no longer documented. then they can take what they wish from us. our homes, our dignity, our guns, our lives, etc...
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:33 pm
BerettaPunk this was my response to her: "its more the things written on that peice of paper that i defend then the paper itself. just like the flag. its not the flag itself i defend, its the nation and beliefs it holds(or at least held at one time.) i believe the rights stated in the constitution are given to me not from the constitution, but of the fact that i was born a human being and i do believe that everyone should have a fair shot at life. the only reason i fight for that peice of paper is because in this world, if it isnt written down, its not recognized. its lasted this long cuz there are people out there ready to die for the beliefs written on it, i would gladly be one of them. so you can say what you like about the constitution. just remember that it helped you become who you are and it allows you to speak so freely about its existence. " yeah i remember shays rebellion and the articles of confederation from history class in high school. i can see the validity of the argument that it wasnt meant to. but the fact is that it does give us habeaus corpus and our rights to freedom of speech and right to arms. i only fight for it because if we lose that peice of paper, they will say that it is no longer documented. then they can take what they wish from us. our homes, our dignity, our guns, our lives, etc...You are right in the first bold string of text, but then contradict yourself with the second two. The Constitution does not "give" anyone any rights, it theoretically guarantees that the government will honor those rights. And that is something which it has never done. Go back to the time of our venerable forefathers and tell a black slave on a plantation about his rights to gun ownership and freedom of speech. Then, travel forward sixty years and tell southern citizens about their Constitutionally guaranteed right to separate from the Union. Even from the very inception of the Constitution, those "guarantees" haven't amounted to d**k. At every last chance, by hook or crook, the government has acted in the best interests of the political and economic elites. The slumlord who triples the rent and the banker who forecloses on a mortgage takes homes from the poor. The police wantonly brutalize and rape our dignity. The army readily conscripts the defenseless and takes their lives. Give the Constitution the same respect given to it by it's keepers, because we're in the middle of a war.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:42 am
you are buying into the idea that laws were actually made to protect people, when they were really meant to keep the ruling class up.
i really dont know about US history, but i can bet that whoever wrote the constitution was still protecting private interests.
what happens when you glorify laws so much is that people learn to think that you can do crimes as long as its lawful.
thats what happens to a society built by laws, instead of laws built by society. if lawmaking isnt public, then it´s not worth it. no matter what ends the people in charge have.
believing in the constitution, believing that some people wrote it to protect the people, is believing the same lies that the communists promised in russia, that everything was built to help the people. but then, any type of government and law becomes corrupt, to suit private interests. it´s merely something you would expect from the constitution.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:04 am
BerettaPunk this was my response to her: "(...) if it isnt written down, its not recognized. recognized by who? by lawmakers and courts, to give their own sense of the meaning to it. but you dont need anyone to tell you that its bad to hit your friends, you dont need a law to know that its wrong to steal from your parents, nor do you need a trial for anyone to know who´s the victim when someone beats you up. BerettaPunk its lasted this long cuz there are people out there ready to die for the beliefs written on it, i would gladly be one of them. dude dont : ( dont be fooled into it. BerettaPunk just remember that it helped you become who you are and it allows you to speak so freely about its existence. " lets imagine that you were a black slave 400 years ago. now, you have your master, who makes you work and beats you every day. imagine that he was kind enough to give you breakfast in the mornings. would you be grateful for it? would you admire and respect him just because of that? its the same thing. people are tricked into believing that they should be thankful for things they have all the right to in the first place. that whole "hand that feeds" thing is a trick! youre not supposed to be grateful when your best friend doesnt beat you up, nor should you thank your mom for letting you learn how to speak. same thing. BerettaPunk i only fight for it because if we lose that peice of paper, they will say that it is no longer documented. then they can take what they wish from us. our homes, our dignity, our guns, our lives, etc... they still can take your home, your dignity, your guns and your lives. actually theyve been doing it all along. and if it wasnt in the constitution, they could change it just today if they wanted to, because you have no choice in the matter. when you have no choice in the matter, it seems kind of silly to believe that lawmakers of any type are really going to make an effort for you to become the winrar. so dont defend the constitution. defend your rights, what you know you deserve. no paper can state that, nor do you need any paper to know what is right or wrong.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:22 pm
True, the constitution is a set of laws, but my idea is that it isn't laws for the people; it's laws against the government.
If any one bit of the constitution mattered worth s**t in our country, then we wouldn't rape, enslave and silence to enforce it. But the thing is, the constitution is only a good thing when the government actually uses it, and as can be seen with George Bush, that sure as Hell isn't the case. And when it is, humanity isn't for anyone.
But still, I stand by my beliefs in what it was really supposed to mean, and I know damn well that if you were to fight for the constitution, unlike what many people think now, the government can be the ones to try to take that from you. The fault isn't in the constitution; it's in its keepers. Almost everything we find fault in within the constitution today is exactly what the founders of America feared.
The constitution isn't at fault; it's that we think it will make them keep their hands off of our telephone lines and our rights if we so choose, when our rights become as thin and fragile as the paper they were written on. When we "Die for our country" today, we completely ignore what the founding fathers intended, and thats on the road to Fascism. They never intended for us to fight for a nation, to fight for a flag, or to fight for a president; they meant for us to fight for the ability to be who we are, and for the freedom of all mankind willing, but most of all, for who we want to be.
Granted, I don't agree with Capitalism, and I never agree with the American government; but I do agree with the men who sat at a table and told their English king to shove his crown.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:28 pm
bootlog you are buying into the idea that laws were actually made to protect people, when they were really meant to keep the ruling class up. i really dont know about US history, but i can bet that whoever wrote the constitution was still protecting private interests. the electoral college and old system of electing senators are perfect examples. james madison, who wrote the bill of rights, had no confidence in the abilities of the uneducated masses to elect representatives.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:28 pm
kindof like simon bolivar in latin america, although all around he is considered a liberator, he thought that people were too stupid for democracy.
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:03 am
i know that i technically contradicted myself. but like i said the only reason i support it in our modern times is because everything has to be written down in order to take seriously. its the downfall of a modern world where everything is a process i guess. i really do hate that stuff dont get me wrong, please.
i enjoy the constitution because it serves as a reminder to all of us that we enjoy these rights. yes thru the fact that we are human beings...thats what im trying to say, its more there so we dont forget what belongs to us! i dont think any of you would disagree on that. its there for us to see and compare to. if we see our rights being infringed upon, then do we not rebel and protest? i see the constitution as our founding fathers saying, "hey dont forget these, we paid for this with our blood and dont want you to have to do the same."
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:28 pm
well i kinda forgot where we were going with this but...
yes, it is maybe true that things have to be set down in stone. i think so too, but the problem is that this specific stone got vandalized, and its easier to make a new one than try to erase out all the errors in it.
maybe at the start it was a good idea, but as lawmakers started injecting their idiocies into the constitution, they ended up using the people´s weapon against the people.
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