Good post RN - i like to hear your perspective, but i still personally don't see it - but, i guess, i'm not an American
You're not alone. Many people - even in my country - don't see it.
Do you know how much this attitude bothers me?
Let me give you an example:
United States Constitution. Article 1. Section 4
That law still exists. And the grotesque manner people encourage government to ignore it just adds to the perversity of it all.
The trouble is that most people don't consistently apply the "principle of individual liberty". They constantly think every problem requires a
government intervention for a solution.
but you're not allowed to smoke weed, and i believe, at least formerly, oral sex was prohibited in several states :dunno:
My very
next sentence answers that :
Roughneck said:
Over time, our strict adherence to this principle has diluted - to the point we're tolerating all kinds of abuses from gun laws to income taxation.
(emphasis mine)
* Up untill the passage and ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913 - the Income Tax did not exist in my country! Imagine that! For about a 130 odd years, except for temporary ones to fund wars (which were promptly declared void and unconstitutional within years of it's institution); the United States never had an income tax in place! People always joke that "Death and Taxes are eternal" - they don't know how wrong they are!!
* Why stop at weed and oral sex? Up to about a 100 years ago, women weren't allowed to vote. Did you know that before the meddling intervention of government - people were free to use drugs like cocaine and opium? Nobody was thrown in jail for cultivating hemp?
Example: It is the biggest hypocrisy of today that people seem to be all up in arms over legislating "drugs" and claim to support the "Drug War" --- all while popping pills by the millions. [For fucks sake! We have thousands of
kids on Adderall ... which is just a legal name for amphetamine!) Drugs is one of the biggest industries in the United States - people just don't want to fess up to their complicity in making it so.
I don't claim that the system is perfect. Show me any man who claims their system is perfect and I'll show you a fool.
No! My argument has always been that a system founded on individual rights and liberty is the most
moral. All laws must be moral; but not all morals should be law.
* Weed and oral sex shouldn't be a matter for government. And even if you want to make it an argument for government intervention - it is a job for local and state governments. NOT the Federal government. Blakey, untill/unless you can fathom the reason and importance for enumerated powers and foundation of States Vs Federal government - explaining concepts will be hard.
Let me put it this way:
How do you see it -
The United States is a powerful country
OR
The United States are a powerful country,
There is a world of difference between the two out looks.
cheers,
