Before You Vote...

Great Debates
1

We are about to elect the first President of the Second Century of America.

In the 20th Century America has achieved success and domination on a scale hitherto unknown to human history. We defeated two of the most Barbaric empires the world has ever seen; Nazi Germany, and Communist Russia (lest you beg to differ about the latter consider the Communist Russian Concentration Camps claimed nearly 10 million victims in the systematic destruction of their enemies and perceived enemies.) Do not forget that “NAZI” was shorthand for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

We have waged terrible war with a national singlemindedness and ferocity that would cause the Sacred Band of ancient Thebes to tremble in their armor were they to face it. We have done so not to conquer, or subdue, but to protect people from those that would enslave them.

We have developed the power to physically destroy the world by pushing a button (and so far the restraint not to.) In what Tom Wolfe describes as “The single greatest engineering feat in human history,” we have put men on the moon. In the 20th century, the doors of America have been open to the huddled and ragged masses of humanity as never before. In the latter half of the 20th Century we have received and given full citizenship to more immigrants than in the previous 100 years.

We have created an empire, economically, militarily, and morally of such vast global scale that Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar would have burned and wept with envy had they the imagination to even envision such a thing.

Today the average American enjoys a standard of living that the Sun King would envy. The wealth of knowledge available to the average man through books, the internet, television, the free press, is unprecedented in human history, as is the freedom to act and speak on that knowledge, add to it. Today, and average worker may surf the internet and decide whether we go on a cruise of the entire carribean, or just pick a single beach, or would he rather go skiing?

If a rich man and a poor man go to the hospital at the same time, they treat the one who is more seriously injured first, and neither expects otherwise.

America, both private and public reaches out with compassion to those who are suffering needlessly. We do this selflessly out of the belief that all the world should enjoy the privileges that we have achieved.

From the light bulb to the telephone to the automobile, to the microchip, most every important technological advance of the last hundred years has been spawned from American ingenuity.

We are the only nation in history to have been founded on the belief that all men are equal.

We are also a humble nation. As you read my words, consider for a moment that we as Americans do not dwell on these facts, we do not glory in our superiority. Instead we look at all we have achieved and are genuinely saddened by what remains imperfect. We have taken our position of leadership for granted to such an extant that we no longer notice, or comment upon it. We do not pat ourselves on the back, which is why I take a moment to do so.

We are a good nation and our achievements have bettered the world.

All this occured in the last 100 years. Who knows what we may accomplish in the next, our 2nd century as the greatest civilization the world had known. Will we falter as the British Empire did after it’s self-congratulatory Fin-de-siecle, 100 years ago?

I hope not. This Tuesday we will elect the first President of the second century of America.

For a moment only, put the issues of the public eye aside, put aside all that is wrong, and consider instead all that we have accomplished, and all that we should accomplish going forward.

Vote.

Consider some of our Presidents, Democrat, Republican, or otherwise, and consider that our next President will stand upon the shoulders of Giants.

For the next 100 years our future Presidents will have to stand upon the shoulders of the man we elect this Tuesday. You may be dismayed with your choices or there may be a giant hidden upon one of our candidates. I don’t know. Your vote though will have to carry the weight of the giants to come, that I do know. Use it well.
::Gets off soapbox, looks around in embarassment, hits submit::

2

Holy cow, Scylla, just when the non-Merkins around here were starting to buy the idea that we might not really be hyperbolic, ahistorical, jingoistic flag-wavers, you have to go and do something like this. Couldn’t you at least have put “WARNING: FOR U.S. CITIZENS ONLY!!” in the thread title? :slight_smile:

You’re absolutely damn right about one thing, though. Come Tuesday, we Merkins should get out there and vote.

3

Pretty Damn impressive. I will be printing this out and (selectively:)) passing this out to help motivate people.

Nice post.

4

<nitpick>Well, actually the second century of America (the United States anyway) began in 1976. You might have heard about all those “bicentennial” celebrations, or maybe seen those drummer-boy quarters.</nitpick>

all-in-all, a great post though.

5

eggo:

Actually, according to your math, we would be in the third Century. That’s not what I’m talking about.

America only came to be the dominating world power that it is, in the last 100 years. Hence, the second century of America, not as nation, but as irresistable force.

6

just to annoy scylla

7

Are you sure? There have been a lot of nations founded in history.

8

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Boris B *
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The key word is “founded.”

You will see that, despite the language being in clear violation of SOCAS, that it is the U.S.'s prime priciple.

Other countries have stated that there are equal rights, but there it is, the U.S.'s reason for being. As mission statements go, it’s a pretty good one, and, again, no other nation, before, or since, was founded on it.

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9

Scylla,

Would you mind if I emailed that too some friends?

That “essay” if you will, is excellent and does not belong in Great Debates, it most certainly belongs on the front page of the SD though! :slight_smile:

10

techchick68:

I would be humbled (you might want to run it through a spell checker though.)

11

Well, Scylla, I don’t know exactly how to rephrase my question. I have no idea why you posted the Declaration of Independence; I was not arguing about what ideas the United States was founded on. The key word is not “founded”, it is “only”. Have you read the founding documents of Bolivia, the Fifth French Republic, Botswana, Iceland, and every other country ever founded?

You might argue that our founding documents are more eloquent than most. I would agree. You might argue that founding documents are the only place where foundational ideas can be located. I disagree. But you simply can’t argue that the U.S. is unique until you’ve looked everywhere. Many countries have equivalents to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Many countries threw off the yoke of foreign oppression in a revolution. Are you telling me that in every one of them, the belief that all men are equal is not a foundational idea? All I’m saying is that is an extremely bold statement. I would have disproven it by now if I still had access to a college library where I used to browse through a book called, I think, Constitutions of the World, which contained the full texts of those documents and similar materials (the Magna Carta was in there, as well as Germany’s Basic Law). I am sure that the preamble to at least one of those documents includes the notion of equality among citizens. It wouldn’t be phrased in 18th Century English, but it would still be there, and have meaning.

12

BorisB:

What I said was that it was the founding principle, and that the U.S. is unique in this regard.

I have read it before, more than once. I will be happy to recant it, and assume that I was in error, if you would care to find another example of a nation founded on that principle. I believe I read it most recently in Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. Something similar, about America’s unique founding was attributed to Lincoln. Mcpherson then comments that it still stands today. The US is the only country founded on the principle of equality.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. Quite frankly, I’m not going to be bothered to scan through a 1000 plus page book to find the cite, if I don’t have to especially since I also recall hearing it elsewhere.

If by some chance you were to find another example where that was the prime, initial, yes founding principle of a nation, then I would probably look it up, just to prove it wasn’t my fault. I just don’t feel like spending a couple of hours on it right now.

13

BorisB:

You said:

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No, I wouldn’t. A country might be founded on the idea that Rasberry Jello is the best flavor. If later they change their mind and decide that the most important principle of their country is equality of man, that’s all well and good, but they were still founded on Rasberry Jello.

14

I don’t believe the founding fathers believed all men were created equal in the sense we mean it now. I think they meant “men” in the collective sense, as in " the Swedes are tall men". In other words, they meant the POPULATION of North America was entitled to rule itself (with the founding fathers themselves at the helm), rather than being ruled from Europe.

But…So What? Is that really important? What matters is that the seed was there, it took on a life of its own and has developed to where we are now: adhering to the notion that equality of opportunity should be granted to every individual. This is what we mean today by “all men are created equal”, and it is a powerful vision that has, indeed, gained a moral ascendancy over other more partitioned and parochial societies. The idea is not purely American, but has been a general development of the western world since the enlightenment(and has been accepted in most civilized countries). Nevertheless, America has had a large part in this development - the largest in my opinion (though other cases can be made, Britain particularly) - and we’ve paid the growing pains of bloody wars and social upheavals for it.

Otherwise, I agree with what you wrote, in general sentiment anyway. [I won’t nitpick with things like pointing out that the car was not an American invention, and neither it, the light bulb, nor the telephone was invented in the last hundred years, nor that medical care is NOT meted equally to different economic classes with the possible exception of the ER, and probably not always there. I personally agree that we have a moral high ground on a lot of things, but not every thing, and there are a lot of people in the world who wouldn’t even allow that much. Also, our selflessness at many points is truly undeniable, but has not been uniform. But these are, as I said, all nitpicks.] The only thing I take exception to is that I don’t think you give enough credit to our accomplishments of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We were not a world military power then, but we have been a world economic and cultural power for longer than a mere hundred years.

15

APB9999:

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The language is unambiguous. I don’t know what they thought I either, but what they wrote is pretty clear.

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Well thanks for not nitpicking. You are wrong to do so. The major and important technological advances in the automobile, the lightbulb, and the telephone occured in the last 100 years. I would argue that the modern automobile is an an invention of 20th century, as are the lightbulb, and the telephone. Certainly they were all conceived in the nineteenth century, but they belong to the 20th.

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It’s not a question of giving credit, it’s a question of what’s true. Sure, we were nobody to trifle with in 1898, but it is within the las 100 years that the US has become ther most powerful nation on earth; economically, militartily, culturally, technologically, and generally. This is our second century as the biggest kid on the block, the one others want to be like. If you doubt this, remember Tianneman square, the statue the students erected to the Goddess of Freedom. Do you remember what that statue was?

16

APB999:

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I would think that just about any ER doctor or worker that you spoke to would make you feel very uncomfortable about the slightest suggestion that their was class favoritism going on, were you foolish enough to put forth that proposition. The issue is taken extremely seriously there. As well as being a moral perogative, the failure to do so carries disastrous consequences for those, and the hospital involved.

You are right that it is not “meted” out equally. Usually only those that lack the ability to pay, have health care “meted” out to them. Those that have the means or the insurance, generally are paying for it.

17

In the 20th Century America has achieved success and domination on a scale hitherto unknown to human history. We defeated two of the most Barbaric empires the world has ever seen; Nazi Germany, and Communist Russia (lest you beg to differ about the latter consider the Communist Russian Concentration Camps claimed nearly 10 million victims in the systematic destruction of their enemies and perceived enemies.) Do not forget that “NAZI” was shorthand for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

I have to take some exception here. When referring to our victory in World War II, it’s crucial to also assign credit to our allies, without whom Nazi Germany would have been an unassailable bulwark of military and economic might which the United States could never have breached.

I’m not sure of the relevance of the etymology of the word Nazi here. Sure, it’s short for National Sozialist, but that was a misnomer: Nazis were in fact fascists. A small point, but it’s important.

And the tyranny of the Soviet Union far outweighed that of Nazi Germany. The Soviets killed twelve million people in death camps between the years 1935 and 1938 alone, and millions more before and after that famous purge. Estimates of how many were actually killed ranges close to thirty million, which is greater than the current population of Texas. The Nazis killed twenty million in their famous concentration camps, which as we know concentrated on Jews, Slavs, homosexuals, intellectuals, and of course the dreaded communists. Mind you, Hitler had only twelve years, while Stalin had more than twenty, but still… Anyhow, the Soviet Union collapsed under its own inefficiency and tyranny. Resistance from the West helped, but there’s no way that such a system of government could have succeeded on its own.

Anyway, despite the fact that the United States does not determine the course of human events by itself, I agree with you that it’s still important to vote on Tuesday. Vote not just for the president, but in all your state and local elections, as well. Political activism is most effective when it’s imposed from the ground up, after all.

18

Chance:

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Of course.

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From “In The Land of The Rococco Marxists,” (which I looked up before I posted just to be sure.)

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19

The earliest reference to the concept of equality in a European constitution is in France, 1791. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” Of course, it could be argued that the 1791 constitution isn’t really the foundation of France, since the country of France had existed before then, and other constitutions have been written since. In any case, 1791 is the foundation of constitutional government in France, and the beginning of a string of constitutions invoking the Declaration of the Rights of Man, language from which still exists in the current French constitution. (I got this info from Constitutions of the World by Albert P. Blaustein.) In any event, I didn’t stop with France.

Other European constitutions also invoke equality. Italy’s, for example. I wish I had some text from the first Italian constitution of 1861, for that was truly a founding document, no unified Italian state having existed since the fall of the Western Empire. Instead, I’ll rely on the 1948 constitution, which, according to Robert L. Maddex (in his creatively titled Constitutions of the World), “asserts equality before the law for all citizens, without discrimination on the basis of sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, or personal and social conditions.”

Finland was a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire for a long time, but it became an independent country in 1919 upon its adoption of the constitution it still has. “The general rights and legal protections of Finnish citizens include equality of treatment before the law” (Maddex).

Liberia has a long history of affinity to the concept of liberty, hence its name. It was founded by freed slaves, supported by Daniel Webster and Francis Scott Key, among others. Its first constitution was written 1847 by Simon Greenleaf. Again, I wish I had the exact text before me, because I’m willing to bet that it has wording in it confirming equality as one of its core values. It wouldn’t make sense any other way - Liberia was seen as a the expression of American political philosophy in Africa, with the added value of racial equality. All I have is Madddex’s characterization of Chapter 3 (entitled “Fundamental Rights”) of the country’s 1986 document: “[It] provides that all persons are equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and inalienable rights to which all persons are entitled regardless of [demographics].”

20

Boris B:

You’re really hung up on this, aren’t you?

Unfortunately, as you point out, none of those examples cuts it.

Equality may be a founding concept of Liberia, but that is not the question. Is it THE founding concept?

No, Liberia’s founding concept is (you guessed it,) freedom.

You will also recall that the question not if all men have equal rights is in the foundign papers of a nation, but that all men are equal, and that that is the reason why the country is being created. In other words, its founding principle.

Italy? France? Liberia? (Umm, yeah, sure) Give it up. :slight_smile: