Posted under hglindquist to the Bob Herbert forum in the NYTimes website, Wednesday, August 3, :
hglindquist - 10:04 AM ET August 3, 2005 (#29261)
The fora of the NY Times are a fascinating read! So many people appear to have closed their minds to reason ... all along the spectrum of political thought from the right to the left.
Some individuals expend a seemingly inordinate amount of time and energy to respond in kind to the sophomoric rhetoric (drivel?) of an opposing view. Where does all this angst come from?
Are we turning our back on the ideals of our great nation?
This spoken by a Republican President:
"It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
From our Declaration of Independence:
"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, ... "
Yes, there is some latitude in interpretation of our ideals, but I believe that we have start with what we believe these principles mean and explain with reason how we then come to our interpretation of them as applied to current events.
In this there will always be the tension between what is and what we believe ought to be.
I would suggest that if we turn away from the pursuit of freedom and a "government of the people, by the people, for the people", we will be retreating. And what is retreat?
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