Senate report concludes: no proof of contact between

[kandrathe]

Hi,
Interesting poll. Looks like the Republicans have given up on the Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights. Damed inconvenient for them when the personal freedoms of the citizens interferes with their GOD given right to do what they want to increase their power and wealth. Good thing that most people don't have a clue about their basic rights. And lucky for them that at least half the nation is stupid enough not only to let them get away with it, but to actively encourage them.

Time to follow Jefferson's advice, rip up the constitution and start over. But just what form of document should we write to establish the basis of a tyrannical fully capitalistic theocracy? And what should we name it? Perhaps we could be honest, call it the Consolidate Nation of the States of the Morons.

--Pete

It's not just the R's. I recall quite a few rights tramplings during the Clinton years. Also, when has this nation ever had an educated populace? One that could meet your standards? It seems that Americans have been treated as nearly savage, and uneducated by Europe since before the revolution. We ourselves have been so xenophobic that we came close to barring recent German emigrants, Catholics, and other so-called unwashed miscreants from voting in the late 1850's.

What is the rule of honor to be observed by a power so strongly and so advantageously situated as this Republic is? Of course I do not expect it meekly to pocket real insults if they should be offered to it. But, surely, it should not, as our boyish jingoes wish it to do, swagger about among the nations of the world, with a chip on its shoulder, shaking its fist in everybody's face. Of course, it should not tamely submit to real encroachments upon its rights. But, surely, it should not, whenever its own notions of right or interest collide with the notions of others, fall into hysterics and act as if it really feared for its own security and its very independence.

As a true gentleman, conscious of his strength and his dignity, it should be slow to take offense. In its dealings with other nations it should have scrupulous regard, not only for their rights, but also for their self-respect. With all its latent resources for war, it should be the great peace power of the world. It should never forget what a proud privilege and what an inestimable blessing it is not to need and not to have big armies or navies to support. It should seek to influence mankind, not by heavy artillery, but by good example and wise counsel. It should see its highest glory, not in battles won, but in wars prevented. It should be so invariably just and fair, so trustworthy, so good tempered, so conciliatory, that other nations would instinctively turn to it as their mutual friend and the natural adjuster of their differences, thus making it the greatest preserver of the world's peace.

This is not a mere idealistic fancy. It is the natural position of this great republic among the nations of the earth. It is its noblest vocation, and it will be a glorious day for the United States when the good sense and the self-respect of the American people see in this their "manifest destiny." It all rests upon peace. Is not this peace with honor? There has, of late, been much loose speech about "Americanism." Is not this good Americanism? It is surely today the Americanism of those who love their country most. And I fervently hope that it will be and ever remain the Americanism of our children and our children's children.

— Carl Schurz, The True Americanism, April 18, 1859