Little-Acorn
Well-Known Member
Sowell hits another one out of the park. The American Revolution - symbolized by the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 - was the most stirring revolution in the history of mankind. Because it was a revolution that not only threw off an oppressive government by elitists who wanted to rule over others against their will - it was a revolution that brought in a brand-new form of govenment that had never been tried before. A government based on the idea that the regular people of the country, could make as good decisions (or better) than the elite rulers could, for their own welfare and prosperity.
And once it got started, the country spawned in that revolution rocketed from a few miserable colonies, to the greatest, most prosperous country the world has ever known, in a relatively short 200 years.
A form of government that no one had ever seen before, was followed by an incredible increase in prosperity and freedom that no one had ever seen before.
These two occurrances are not unrelated.
Now we have agents trying their best to return our government back to the ruling-elite method of old, where a small group of self-anointed superiors put into place laws designed to "help" us against the will of the people... and we are seeing our prosperity and freedom starting to diminish.
And likewise, these two latter occurrances are not unrelated.
Now with the turn of the new millenium, we are engaged in a struggle to see if the free republic set up some 200 years ago, can keep its government-by-the-people nature, or will slide back into the dominance of an elite that rules the rest of us, as so many countries had during the Dark Ages. Or whether it will throw off the efforts of those elites and keep the heritage it claimed on July 4, 1776.
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http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/06/28/july_4th/page/full/
July 4th
by Thomas Sowell
6/28/2011
The Fourth of July may be just a holiday for fireworks to some people. But it was a momentous day for the history of this country and the history of the world.
Not only did July 4, 1776 mark American independence from England, it marked a radically different kind of government from the governments that prevailed around the world at the time -- and the kinds of governments that had prevailed for thousands of years before.
The American Revolution was not simply a rebellion against the King of England, it was a rebellion against being ruled by kings in general. That is why the opening salvo of the American Revolution was called "the shot heard round the world."
Autocratic rulers and their subjects heard that shot -- and things that had not been questioned for millennia were now open to challenge. As the generations went by, more and more autocratic governments around the world proved unable to meet that challenge.
Some clever people today ask whether the United States has really been "exceptional." You couldn't be more exceptional in the 18th century than to create your fundamental document -- the Constitution of the United States -- by opening with the momentous words, "We the people..."
Those three words were a slap in the face to those who thought themselves entitled to rule, and who regarded the people as if they were simply human livestock, destined to be herded and shepherded by their betters. Indeed, to this very day, elites who think that way -- and that includes many among the intelligentsia, as well as political messiahs -- find the Constitution of the United States a real pain because it stands in the way of their imposing their will and their presumptions on the rest of us.
More than a hundred years ago, so-called "Progressives" began a campaign to undermine the Constitution's strict limitations on government, which stood in the way of self-anointed political crusaders imposing their grand schemes on all the rest of us. That effort to discredit the Constitution continues to this day, and the arguments haven't really changed much in a hundred years.
The cover story in the July 4th issue of Time magazine is a classic example of this arrogance. It asks of the Constitution: "Does it still matter?"
A long and rambling essay by Time magazine's managing editor, Richard Stengel, manages to create a toxic blend of the irrelevant and the erroneous.
The irrelevant comes first, pointing out in big letters that those who wrote the Constitution "did not know about" all sorts of things in the world today, including airplanes, television, computers and DNA.
This may seem like a clever new gambit but, like many clever new gambits, it is a rehash of arguments made long ago. Back in 1908, Woodrow Wilson said, "When the Constitution was framed there were no railways, there was no telegraph, there was no telephone,"
In Mr. Stengel's rehash of this argument, he declares: "People on the right and left constantly ask what the framers would say about some event that is happening today."
Maybe that kind of talk goes on where he hangs out. But most people have enough common sense to know that a constitution does not exist to micro-manage particular "events" or express opinions about the passing scene.
A constitution exists to create a framework for government -- and the Constitution of the United States tries to keep the government inside that framework.
From the irrelevant to the erroneous is a short step for Mr. Stengel. He says, "If the Constitution was intended to limit the federal government, it certainly doesn't say so."
Apparently Mr. Stengel has not read the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Perhaps Richard Stengel should follow the advice of another Stengel -- Casey Stengel, who said on a number of occasions, "You could look it up."
Does the Constitution matter? If it doesn't, then your Freedom doesn't matter.
And once it got started, the country spawned in that revolution rocketed from a few miserable colonies, to the greatest, most prosperous country the world has ever known, in a relatively short 200 years.
A form of government that no one had ever seen before, was followed by an incredible increase in prosperity and freedom that no one had ever seen before.
These two occurrances are not unrelated.
Now we have agents trying their best to return our government back to the ruling-elite method of old, where a small group of self-anointed superiors put into place laws designed to "help" us against the will of the people... and we are seeing our prosperity and freedom starting to diminish.
And likewise, these two latter occurrances are not unrelated.
Now with the turn of the new millenium, we are engaged in a struggle to see if the free republic set up some 200 years ago, can keep its government-by-the-people nature, or will slide back into the dominance of an elite that rules the rest of us, as so many countries had during the Dark Ages. Or whether it will throw off the efforts of those elites and keep the heritage it claimed on July 4, 1776.
---------------------------------
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/06/28/july_4th/page/full/
July 4th
by Thomas Sowell
6/28/2011
The Fourth of July may be just a holiday for fireworks to some people. But it was a momentous day for the history of this country and the history of the world.
Not only did July 4, 1776 mark American independence from England, it marked a radically different kind of government from the governments that prevailed around the world at the time -- and the kinds of governments that had prevailed for thousands of years before.
The American Revolution was not simply a rebellion against the King of England, it was a rebellion against being ruled by kings in general. That is why the opening salvo of the American Revolution was called "the shot heard round the world."
Autocratic rulers and their subjects heard that shot -- and things that had not been questioned for millennia were now open to challenge. As the generations went by, more and more autocratic governments around the world proved unable to meet that challenge.
Some clever people today ask whether the United States has really been "exceptional." You couldn't be more exceptional in the 18th century than to create your fundamental document -- the Constitution of the United States -- by opening with the momentous words, "We the people..."
Those three words were a slap in the face to those who thought themselves entitled to rule, and who regarded the people as if they were simply human livestock, destined to be herded and shepherded by their betters. Indeed, to this very day, elites who think that way -- and that includes many among the intelligentsia, as well as political messiahs -- find the Constitution of the United States a real pain because it stands in the way of their imposing their will and their presumptions on the rest of us.
More than a hundred years ago, so-called "Progressives" began a campaign to undermine the Constitution's strict limitations on government, which stood in the way of self-anointed political crusaders imposing their grand schemes on all the rest of us. That effort to discredit the Constitution continues to this day, and the arguments haven't really changed much in a hundred years.
The cover story in the July 4th issue of Time magazine is a classic example of this arrogance. It asks of the Constitution: "Does it still matter?"
A long and rambling essay by Time magazine's managing editor, Richard Stengel, manages to create a toxic blend of the irrelevant and the erroneous.
The irrelevant comes first, pointing out in big letters that those who wrote the Constitution "did not know about" all sorts of things in the world today, including airplanes, television, computers and DNA.
This may seem like a clever new gambit but, like many clever new gambits, it is a rehash of arguments made long ago. Back in 1908, Woodrow Wilson said, "When the Constitution was framed there were no railways, there was no telegraph, there was no telephone,"
In Mr. Stengel's rehash of this argument, he declares: "People on the right and left constantly ask what the framers would say about some event that is happening today."
Maybe that kind of talk goes on where he hangs out. But most people have enough common sense to know that a constitution does not exist to micro-manage particular "events" or express opinions about the passing scene.
A constitution exists to create a framework for government -- and the Constitution of the United States tries to keep the government inside that framework.
From the irrelevant to the erroneous is a short step for Mr. Stengel. He says, "If the Constitution was intended to limit the federal government, it certainly doesn't say so."
Apparently Mr. Stengel has not read the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Perhaps Richard Stengel should follow the advice of another Stengel -- Casey Stengel, who said on a number of occasions, "You could look it up."
Does the Constitution matter? If it doesn't, then your Freedom doesn't matter.
