[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by PornoDoggy@Jul 5 2005, 03:16 AM
I have to admit I get a little uneasy when I hear people make statements like "the spirit of the Constitution is no longer alive, or at best is in a vegetative state and on life-support."

It's the kind of statement my paternal Grandfather would make when he was preparing to go off on a rant about the jew Roosevelt and his attempt to turn America into a communist state.

It's the kind of statement my maternal Grandfather would have made when he was preparing to talk about taking God out of schools and letting the niggers in.

The debates that rage today are little different than the ones that have raged throughout the history of this country. The whole "if you don't support the war you are a traitor" routine was played out ad naseum during my lifetime, during Korea, during WWI, and most wars prior. Security vs civil liberties has repeated itself over and over for 200 years. Concern about the dangers presented by immigrants spawned an entire political party in the 1840s, aptly named the No-Nothings. The homosexual agenda arguement is a rerun of the Knee-grow agenda almost verbatim; the liberal activist judges routine has been played out for 70 fucking years minimum (I think the John Birch Society has a copyright on the phrase).

The most onerous aspects of the Patriot Act don't hold a candle to what Lincoln did during the Civil War. The detention of Arabs after 9/11 is nothing compared to the interment camps of WWII. George Bush and the neo-cons have wet dreams about having a Secretary of State the equivlent of Wilson's AG Palmer, who would have deported his mother as a communist if she wore a red hat two days in a row.. The spirit of the constitution is alive and doing well. There are more threats to it now than at some times in our history, but nothing along the scale that took place in the 1870-1890 (and lasted until the 1950s), for example.

Dangerous things happening? Sure - but this country has lurched right (or left) before, and will do so again.

PD for president!