reply to post by captainplanet
What do you think the general role of the federal government is supposed to be or should be?
I actually believe in the Preamble to the United States Constitution.
We the people of the United States,
in order to form a more perfect
union . . do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I disdain the 1954 addition of “under God” as insulting to God, but I do remind of the Pledge of Allegiance: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of
the United States of America, and
TO the Republic for which it stands, ONE NATION (under God)
INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for
all." All too many people place all their emphasis on ‘Under God" and do not even know or understand the other words they are just mimicking.
I also hold in the highest regard the 14th Amendment. Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States .. are citizens of the United
States and of the state wherein they reside.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
See Foot Note.
States, in particular the 11 states of the Confederacy, have violated the 14th Amendment more times than anyone can count. Indeed, we are still
arguing the outcome of the War of the Rebellion - a/k/a the Civil War. Terrorism was practiced in America without legal restraint, indeed, in many
instances the law enforcers were also the terrorists. The most ignoble group among many was the Ku Klux Klan in its several incarnations. Between 1866
and 1966, over 4,700 black men were lynched. Not all in the South.
Lynching by the way is not the supposed humane ‘hanging” used to perform legal executions. Hanging implies “snapping the neck” to bring about
near instant death. Lynching on the other hand means strangulation, that is, choking to death. That can take from 1 to 3 minutes. That is not only
murder it is torture. Fewer than one-half dozen of the 4,700 instigators of lynchings were ever brought to trial. Numbers are from Southern Poverty
Law Center.
There is much more but I’ll not overload my reply here.
Foot Note. Pay attention that both the word CITIZEN and PERSONS are used. This shows the TWO classes have different rights and protections. I
contend that PERSONS includes the captives held at Guantanamo Bay and other secret prisons around the world as no territorial limitations are
expressed.
[edit on 2/3/2008 by donwhite]