08-27-2004, 10:56 PM
We're back, ready for Round 2!
"Just plain wrong" is very much in the eyes of the beholder. It is a knee-jerk reaction that substitutes for rational though.
You're right--I should be more specific.
Slavery violates another person's right to live free and as he/she wishes. While you spoke in a later post about fighting and dying for freedoms, Pete, African slaves could on a small scale but could not on a large scale. *prepares to open up another can of worms* American slavery has also been political since America was a nation. Indentured servants. The 3/5 law where slaves were considered to be 3/5 of a person when determining state populations for Congressional representatives so plantational states wouldn't dominate Congress. Free Persons of Color laws to separate Africans from Cajuns and Indians. Jim Crow laws. Releasing the Emancipation Proclamation before the Civil War ended to bolster support for the failing Union and their brain-dead-led army. Reconstruction. Poll tax. Grandfather Clause. Red-lining. (I think that's the word for rezoning a voting district to control the voting of certain groups of people.) Strom Thurmond reading from a Christ-jeezerly phone book on the Congressional floor to try and stop the Civil Rights Act from getting passed.
All that is just plain wrong. Yet, there's a precedent for the people in power screwing over the people they don't like. Roman persecution of Christians, anyone? (Hell, the Christianization of the Roman empire was a political move too. Constantine realized there were a buttload of Christians everywhere, and rather than have them challenge Rome's authority, why not make them a part of Rome's authority? Throw in some inspirational "God helped me win this war" stuff and you've got a new official religion for the empire. I can only hope that Shrub doesn't attempt the same tactic.)
(Pete has a Merriam-Webster on his side. I've got ~13 years of history classes and too much Discovery Channel on mine. ^_^)
"Just plain wrong" is very much in the eyes of the beholder. It is a knee-jerk reaction that substitutes for rational though.
You're right--I should be more specific.
Slavery violates another person's right to live free and as he/she wishes. While you spoke in a later post about fighting and dying for freedoms, Pete, African slaves could on a small scale but could not on a large scale. *prepares to open up another can of worms* American slavery has also been political since America was a nation. Indentured servants. The 3/5 law where slaves were considered to be 3/5 of a person when determining state populations for Congressional representatives so plantational states wouldn't dominate Congress. Free Persons of Color laws to separate Africans from Cajuns and Indians. Jim Crow laws. Releasing the Emancipation Proclamation before the Civil War ended to bolster support for the failing Union and their brain-dead-led army. Reconstruction. Poll tax. Grandfather Clause. Red-lining. (I think that's the word for rezoning a voting district to control the voting of certain groups of people.) Strom Thurmond reading from a Christ-jeezerly phone book on the Congressional floor to try and stop the Civil Rights Act from getting passed.
All that is just plain wrong. Yet, there's a precedent for the people in power screwing over the people they don't like. Roman persecution of Christians, anyone? (Hell, the Christianization of the Roman empire was a political move too. Constantine realized there were a buttload of Christians everywhere, and rather than have them challenge Rome's authority, why not make them a part of Rome's authority? Throw in some inspirational "God helped me win this war" stuff and you've got a new official religion for the empire. I can only hope that Shrub doesn't attempt the same tactic.)
(Pete has a Merriam-Webster on his side. I've got ~13 years of history classes and too much Discovery Channel on mine. ^_^)
UPDATE: Spamblaster.