From: TM <messiah@jps.net>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 23:52:55 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Joe Farah 9/14 (Pppbbbttt)
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[ I know this'll never get read by Joe Farah, but what the hell. Gotta
speak up, right? ]

At 08:00 PM 9/14/1998 , Jeff Penrod wrote:
>Americans get what they deserve 	
>
>I love America. 
>
>I love the spacious skies. I love the amber waves of grain, the purple
>mountains' majesties and the fruited plains. But what I love most about
>America is the God-breathed revolutionary spirit that led its founders to
>risk everything in a desperate fight for freedom and a noble effort to
>write the greatest Constitution the world has ever known. 

Yeah right. The Constitution and the Revolution were perpetrated by two
different groups. The Constitution had no revolution behind it. It was
created because the Articles of Confederation provided no central
government, and the republic was floundering. The rich were feeling
threatened by uprisings (like Shay's Rebellion). Alexander Hamilton
(conspicuously missing from your list of ppl who staked their lives), the
*father of the Constitution*, favored a monarchy.

>But something dreadful has happened to that spirit. It's gone. Oh, there's
>a small remnant of people who still have it, understand it and live by it.
>But, apparently, the vast majority of Americans are clueless about it. They
>have no sense of history. They have no connection with their revolutionary
>past. They have no idea of how blessed they are to live with the fleeting
>legacy of freedom they inherited from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
>James Madison and our other forefathers who staked their lives, their
>fortunes and their sacred honor in a quest for liberty.

Actually, the Framers of the Constitution made damn sure their fortunes
were covered. Article VI clearly states...

"All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of
this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this
Constitution, as under the Confederation."

A large majority of the Framers were owed money by the government under the
Confederation.

Also, Thomas Jefferson was in Paris when the Constitution was written. He
was responsible for the Declaration of Independence (a beautiful piece of
writing, BTW), but not the Constitution.

>Americans have
>grown fat and lazy, content with their material blessings and ignorant of
>their far more important endowment of freedom. 

Americans have growns fat and lazy, content with their material blessings
and ignorant of their exploitation by the captialist society in which they
live.

>It's enough to make you sick. 

Amen.

>Oh, sure, Americans have lots of scapegoats for their ignorance. They've
>been deliberately dumbed down for 30 or more years by government schools
>determined to turn them into mindless robots. They have been the victims of
>media propaganda designed to deceive them and lead them astray. And for a
>generation or more they have been seduced by government plans to instill in
>them an ever-greater sense of dependency. 

They've been preyed upon by monopolies, they've been exploited by
management, and they've been fucked up the ass by big business. Meanwhile,
the largest rift between rich and poor in modern industrialized countries
steadily grows wider... 1% of the population controls 90% of the wealth,
and my future has been leased by old rich white men.

>But those are excuses. The truth is out there. It's more readily available
>to Americans who choose to seek it out than any other people in history.
>Americans are just too busy, blind or comfortable to bother searching for
>it. Most don't even comprehend the way they are being manipulated -- or
>just don't care. In other words, ultimately, they have no one to blame but
>themselves. 

In other words, listen to you, because you have the Truth (c)(r)(tm).

>As an example of what I'm talking about, take the latest polls conducted
>after the release of the Starr report. Most Americans say President Clinton
>is doing a good job and should not resign or be impeached. A CNN/Gallup
>poll released the day the report went public on the Internet placed the
>president's job approval rating at 62 percent, about where it was before
>the report was released. More than half, 58 percent, said Congress should
>vote to censure the president for behavior that has eroded the public's
>respect for his ethics and truthfulness -- a thoroughly meaningless
>gesture, a slap on the wrist with no consequences, the kind of punishment
>Bill Clinton awaits more eagerly than the next class of White House interns. 

So... you would rather go against the people's sovereignty and impose your
own personal political agenda on the public, simply because you don't think
Americans are fit to rule themselves? Hah! Americans will run America, for
good or bad. That's the way the Framers intended it. In fact, I think
they'd be rather pleased to see how political and economic elites have
monopolized this country. The Framers were never big on majority rule.

>Almost 60 percent of those polled said they thought Clinton was fit to be
>president. By what standard? That's the trouble. Americans have no
>standards -- no unchangeable yardsticks by which they measure right and
>wrong, truth from fiction. 

By *their* standard, by their own personal judgement. There's no moral
yardstick, and God help us if there is in the future. Who makes the
yardstick? Who sits down and says, "This is the moral standard in this
country, abide by it or suffer the consequences"?

>Now, I don't put much stock in public opinion surveys. They are often
>conducted by the same corporate media interests whose agenda is
>inextricably tied to bigger and more intrusive government. Nevertheless,
>these surveys are at least an indication that our nation is in grave
>trouble. 

These surveys are an indication that you are outnumbered. America no longer
abides by your wishes... DANG. Cry me a river, Joe.

>What do they tell us? 

People's rating of Pres. Clinton? Some people's rating of Pres. Clinton?

>We've lost our moorings -- just as surely as Bill Clinton has. America is
>morally, politically, intellectually, spiritually adrift. There are no
>anchors aboard. No compasses. The USS America is at the mercy of the winds
>and currents, and most on board don't care. As long as the crew is serving
>them fine food and entertaining them, the passengers don't give a second
>thought to their fate or their ultimate destination. 

Wow.. you manage to turn FORGIVENESS into a total lack of morals in this
country. Bummer if everyone in America doesn't think the way you do.

>In a way, Americans are getting just what they deserve. Their choice of
>leaders reflects their own inadequacies and shortcomings -- their own
>cowardice. 

Yeah... we should go back to REAL presidents... like Harding or Grant, two
worthless sacks of shit voted in by an apathetic public. Or Jefferson, who
was so morally upright he fathered a child or two with his maid. Or
Coolidge, who was a puppet for 19th century monopolies. This country has
been fraught with stupid leaders, from post-Revolutionary times to modern.

>No wonder they look at Bill Clinton without judgment. To hold him
>accountable would mean holding themselves to a standard of accountability.
>They like looking up to see a leader who is every bit as dysfunctional,
>soulless and lost as themselves. It's comforting, in a perverse way.

Would you rather the lies be hidden? Would you rather the massive
coverups... the back-office political wheelings and dealings? Would you
rather the lies and deceit that has plagued humanity since history began be
hidden from view so you can strut around like an over-inflated rooster and
crow to the world "No corruption here! We're the leaders of the free world!
Our fathers would be proud"?

>And
>psychic and material comfort is the only standard by which Americans today
>measure their lives, their liberty and their pursuit of happiness. It's not
>an easy observation or admission to make, my fellow Americans. But somebody
>has to say it. 	

As opposed to what... you think people in the past sat down and thought
"Well, gee, how free am I this year as compared to last year?" Hell no!
They sat down and thought "Goddamnit, I don't have nothin' ta eat and the
corn done died! Damn lawyers!" For most people, it simply didn't matter who
was in office - the laws didn't affect them in the least.

>A daily radio broadcast adaptation of Joseph Farah's commentaries can be
>heard at http://www.ktkz.com/ 	

Yay.

I simply hate it when ppl wax nostalgic about the Framers. They were a
bunch of white guys all trying to cover their own asses, and in the
process, they came up with a government which is stable because it pits
self-interest against self-interest. I will admit that the government they
created was really pretty cool, but people get so damn sloppy about the
*motives* of the Framers it's disgusting! They weren't guardian angels
carrying out the mandate of God, they were businessmen and lawyers - some
of whom had some brilliant political theories.

Also, the Framers were *not* (repeat, NOT) in favor of majority rule. Only
1/6th of the original government was elected by the ppl (the House of
Representatives). In fact, if you read the minutes of the meetings, ppl
pointed to the abuse of Quakers in PA by a majority.

Right then. I feel better now.

What do other ppl think about this?

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