View Single Post
Old 01-13-2005, 07:03 AM   #2 (permalink)
Mephisto2
Junkie
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by host
The government does not "give us our rights", we cede
some our freedom and autonomy to the government for the benefit of the
"common good".
I can't really comment too much on the appointment of Judge Chertoff, as I'm not familiar with all the facts, but I do disagree with the statement above.

I don't believe people "cede" anything to the government. I believe the individual owes the State certain obligations. Perhaps that's the difference between me and many (most?) Americans today.

Whatever happened to the concept pronounced by JFK, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country".

Why do so many Americans believe that they, individually, have some higher value or rights than the State. The State, as it exists within Western democracies, is more than an organ of tax collection, social welfare, organized military power and foreign policy, but is a construct to protect all its members; whether rich or poor, whether Christian or not, whether gay or straight, whether Democratic or Republican, whether a member of the Board of Halliburton or a factory worker for General Motors.

It pains me to hear so many intelligent people think that their individual rights, their selfish urges, are more important that the "good" of society, the rights of those who need protection, the promotion of a free and equitable society. Corny as it may sound, let me quote a line from Star Trek. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Or if that doesn't float your boat, how about Louis Blanc (famous French socialist)? "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs".

Why this obsession that you are more important than we?


Mr Mephisto
Mephisto2 is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360