WHAT, ME WORRY? with apologies to A.E. Neumann
The longer I live, the more liberal/conservative I become.
I am generally acknowledged to be a conservative. My kids think I'm hidebound. My fellow posters on the local newspaper's forum think I'm almost an ultra. But appearances can be deceiving. A week or so ago one of the posters accused me of being a "flaming liberal."
Boy, howdy!
I can't even recall what the topic was. Or whether I was trying to be sarcastic (normally that is sour-castic) or just playing devil's advocate. But there it was , in print, Tanstaafl is a flaming liberal.
Maybe it was one of those where I castigated both the Republicans and Democrats for being do-nothings and do-the -wrong-thing-before-the-other-side-does. As I say, I can't really remember what the topic was, but I'm going to hold on to that title. Me. Dagnabbit, me. A flaming liberal. Who'dathunk it?
Conservative? Yes. Fiscally, morally, spiritually, politically. But with a total awe of the Constitution of these United States. And the effect it has had upon mankind, and particularly those within the United States.
The Constitution, as originally written, formed the framework of government for these United States some two hundred eighteen years ago. And, although amended every so often, that original framework still stands today as the bulwark of the Republic, to the utter confusion and consternation of the peoples of the world. The Amendments to the Constitution have only modified the Constitution to guarantee specific rights that every American citizen, rich or poor, black or white, male or female, religious or irreligious has. And to make minor technical changes to the framework.
But those minor technical changes make a huge difference to the workings of our country. How about the one which authorizes the personal income tax? Or the one that says a president may only serve two consecutive full terms? Those two little technical changes wrought tremendous change upon the country, changes that affected every one of us.
The freedoms we enjoy are the envy of the world. They have enabled us to gain the highest standard of living ever known by man for such a large percentage of the country's people. That, coupled with the level of living yields the greatest number of truly wealthy people in the world. Surely there are exceptions and we all know there are those living in abject poverty in our country. But abject poverty in our country would be considered wealth in some countries of this old world.
We scream and bitch and holler at each other to do this, don't do that and on and on. But we usually do not settle our disputes with games of uzi or hand grenades. Sometimes we do, but not often. And when was the last time you heard of an election being settled at the point of a gun in this country? Wasn't very recent was it?
Because we have a Constitution that guarantees us these freedoms, and, we all, regardless of our situation, will grant to the other fellow his right to be heard, whether we like his message or not. By the same token, we expect him to allow us to be heard. And when he or we do not do so, then we have a problem that someone else may have to solve. For our rights are guaranteed by that document those old men came up with way back in 1789.
And, old as I am, children, even I was not alive when it was signed. But I love it and will defend it for all my life, and with my life if necessary. And it makes absolutely no difference if I am a conservative, liberal, libertarian or whatever shade in between. For first and foremost, I am an American. And those foreign goobers can only envy me that status.
I am generally acknowledged to be a conservative. My kids think I'm hidebound. My fellow posters on the local newspaper's forum think I'm almost an ultra. But appearances can be deceiving. A week or so ago one of the posters accused me of being a "flaming liberal."
Boy, howdy!
I can't even recall what the topic was. Or whether I was trying to be sarcastic (normally that is sour-castic) or just playing devil's advocate. But there it was , in print, Tanstaafl is a flaming liberal.
Maybe it was one of those where I castigated both the Republicans and Democrats for being do-nothings and do-the -wrong-thing-before-the-other-side-does. As I say, I can't really remember what the topic was, but I'm going to hold on to that title. Me. Dagnabbit, me. A flaming liberal. Who'dathunk it?
Conservative? Yes. Fiscally, morally, spiritually, politically. But with a total awe of the Constitution of these United States. And the effect it has had upon mankind, and particularly those within the United States.
The Constitution, as originally written, formed the framework of government for these United States some two hundred eighteen years ago. And, although amended every so often, that original framework still stands today as the bulwark of the Republic, to the utter confusion and consternation of the peoples of the world. The Amendments to the Constitution have only modified the Constitution to guarantee specific rights that every American citizen, rich or poor, black or white, male or female, religious or irreligious has. And to make minor technical changes to the framework.
But those minor technical changes make a huge difference to the workings of our country. How about the one which authorizes the personal income tax? Or the one that says a president may only serve two consecutive full terms? Those two little technical changes wrought tremendous change upon the country, changes that affected every one of us.
The freedoms we enjoy are the envy of the world. They have enabled us to gain the highest standard of living ever known by man for such a large percentage of the country's people. That, coupled with the level of living yields the greatest number of truly wealthy people in the world. Surely there are exceptions and we all know there are those living in abject poverty in our country. But abject poverty in our country would be considered wealth in some countries of this old world.
We scream and bitch and holler at each other to do this, don't do that and on and on. But we usually do not settle our disputes with games of uzi or hand grenades. Sometimes we do, but not often. And when was the last time you heard of an election being settled at the point of a gun in this country? Wasn't very recent was it?
Because we have a Constitution that guarantees us these freedoms, and, we all, regardless of our situation, will grant to the other fellow his right to be heard, whether we like his message or not. By the same token, we expect him to allow us to be heard. And when he or we do not do so, then we have a problem that someone else may have to solve. For our rights are guaranteed by that document those old men came up with way back in 1789.
And, old as I am, children, even I was not alive when it was signed. But I love it and will defend it for all my life, and with my life if necessary. And it makes absolutely no difference if I am a conservative, liberal, libertarian or whatever shade in between. For first and foremost, I am an American. And those foreign goobers can only envy me that status.
posted by tanstaafl | 8:18 PM
1 Comments:
I may not remember it all off teh top of my head, but I am pretty sure that as part of my 12th grade government class at tiny little MHS, we were required, nay, we were led thru both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence word for word, item by item, article by article. And Mr. P. was not political in the classroom, but exacting. The word meant what the word meant and that was that. Boy , I wish I still had that old notebook.
I could have shoved it under the nose of a couple of PolSci profs in college, as well as the nose of the *****who I finally had to shout down in class one day as she advocated the complete and total overthrow of our government because it was run by males for males. Her quote not mine. And I finally had enough and told her to sit down, shut up and let other people in the class, whether they differed from her opinion or not, have a turn to speak.
Me, who rarely ever spoke up in class, got applause for that.
Hee hee hee
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