reply to post by SkepticOverlord
All politicians are corrupt, the current makeup of congress has no bearing on the corruption level now, two years ago, four years ago, or at any other
time.
"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a president and
senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Ugly fact. No matter how corrupt or inept the government is accused of being, their accusers are by no means any better were they in that situation.
People don't like to hear that, especially those who cloak themselves in stars and stripes and claim to cherish the constitution. Indeed, when the
French rebelled and gained their independence, they (only by the sheerest chance) avoided decapitating their (and our) revolutionary icon Thomas
Paine... why? Because he had the audacity to suggest that King Louis was a friend to freedom for his support of the American revolution - and his
punishment for crimes against the French populace be exile to America, rather than the guillotine. After all, he was a product of his environment
which any of them would have done the same in his shoes.
He didn't have many good things to say about the way George Washington was running the country.
The commerce of America, so far as it had been established by all the treaties that had been formed prior to that by Jay, was free, and the principles
upon which it was established were good. That ground ought never to have been departed from. It was the justifiable ground of right, and no temporary
difficulties ought to have induced an abandonment of it. The case is now otherwise. The ground, the scene, the pretensions, the everything, are
changed. The commerce of America is, by Jay's Treaty, put under foreign dominion. The sea is not free for her. Her right to navigate it is reduced to
the right of escaping; that is, until some ship of England or France stops her vessels, and carries them into port. Every article of American produce,
whether from the sea or the sand, fish, flesh, vegetable, or manufacture, is, by Jay's Treaty, made either contraband or seizable. Nothing is
exempt.
In all other treaties of commerce, the article which enumerates the contraband articles, such as firearms, gunpowder, etc., is followed by another
article which enumerates the articles not contraband: but it is not so in Jay's Treaty. There is no exempting article. Its place is supplied by the
article for seizing and carrying into port; and the sweeping phrase of "provisions and other articles" includes everything. There never was such a
base and servile treaty of surrender since treaties began to exist.
This is the ground upon which America now stands. All her rights of commerce and navigation are to begin anew, and that with loss of character to
begin with. If there is sense enough left in the heart to call a blush into the cheek, the Washington Administration must be ashamed to appear. And as
to you, Sir, treacherous in private friendship (for so you have been to me, and that in the day of danger) and a hypocrite in public life, the world
will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.
Exert from a letter from Thomas Paine to George Washington, 30 July 1796. This correspondence was used by the Federalists to suggest that the French
were using Paine to smear George Washington for the sake of undermining and overthrowing American institutions.
At least our congressmen aren't beating each other to death in the Senate Chamber these days.... you know, like that time Senator Preston Brooks beat
Senator Charles Sumner to death over a comment he made earlier that week criticizing Pierce and the southern pro-slavery movement's support of the
violence in Kansas.
Do people really think this stuff is new? Do people really think they've got more to be fed up with than previous generations of Americans? These
little "Mad as Hell" tirades and Tea Party protests aren't exactly the first responders to the scene here. This has been happening since the
nation was founded. Since before the Constitution was even ratified. Do these people understand just how many of our founding fathers argued
for America to be a
Monarchy?
Yeah, any change in government have to be a systemic change, not a change of politicians themselves. "Kicking all the bastards out" isn't going to
do a damn bit of good (though it sure might feel good). I think if people want real change and answers... they should be looking more to the Milgram
Experiment and Stanford Prison Experiment, than to Valley Forge or the Boston Tea Party.