I say to you, my friends, even though we face difficulties today, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. I have a dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
I have a dream, that one day all across this country, all people will …. [more]
Tags: Bill of Rights, dream, freedom, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, I Have a Dream, Irish Democracy, justice, liberty, Ozymandias, truculence
I say to you, my friends, even though we face difficulties today, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. I have a dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
I have a dream, that one day all across this country, all people will sit down together voluntarily at the table of brotherhood without being compelled by the heavy hand of the state or by forces of political correctness. (And especially free of the heavy, groping hands of strangers dressed up as TSA agents touching our children and our private parts.)
I have a dream, that one day even the state of California, a state suffering from the heavy hand of the government, being oppressed with high taxes and numerous regulations, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and liberty, and its elected officials will recognize that those who govern least govern best.
I have a dream, that one day all of our children will be literate, numerate, and have a basic understanding of economics (TANSTAAFL).
Continue reading ‘I Have a Dream’ »
Tags: Bill of Rights, Clerisy, dream, freedom, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, I Have a Dream, Irish Democracy, justice, liberty, moral preeners, moral preening, Ozymandias, truculence
Posted 2013/09/02, 2:47 pm
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Category:
"Irish Democracy",
Aristocracy,
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Clerisy,
Crony Capitalism,
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Notes to a Friend,
Philosopher Kings,
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Tyranny,
U.S. Constitution,
You Can't Fix Stupid ·
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There are village tyrants, as well as village Hampdens, but none who acts under color of law is beyond reach of the Constitution.
. . .
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials, and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.
Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.
It seems trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to our Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 1943 (emphasis added)
Continue reading ‘Government by consent of the governed’ »
Tags: _5Ue1ivG6Qg, 1st Amendment, 319 U.S. 624, 3lK_D9vdpP8, Af44Slin7lg, Barnette, Bill of Rights, BpeTd2xII7A, First Amendment, free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, Iu_30-8ZlmQ, Rw8We36cLQg
Posted 2013/08/17, 6:57 am
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Category:
U.S. Constitution ·
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