Jason Pye points to us to recent Rasmussen poll: Americans Still Embrace Ideals from Declaration of Independence
Despite President Barack Obama and Congress attempts to create a culture of dependency, Americans still believe in the basic premise of human liberty.
Its a clever chess move no doubt. But there are multiple ways of interpreting the Ideals from the Declaration of Independence. In fact huge amounts of paper has been created by political theoriests who have debated (and rebated, and redebated) what the original ideals were--and what their reasoning and intentions were. [side note: is redebated a word? I'm not even going to check] [side note part deux, does anyone else hear Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra when you read the words "Ideals from the Declaration of Independence"]
But lets skip the Ivory Tower and move back to what real people think (which is far more useful in my opinion) [side note: did I just claim that Academics aren't real people? I'm not going to answer that or I might reason myself out of existence...errr the future self at any rate]
For example:
89% of American adults agree that "we are all endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Only seven percent (7%) disagree on that founding premise.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness has always been a, interpret as you please, concept. Go ask anyone if they like liberty and believe its fundamentally good. Who is opposed to Liberty? Aside from
guys like this.
It all depends on what is or isn't liberty.
Does a corporation have the same liberties as individuals? Or can individuals, through the social contract agree to empower the state to protect them from egregious behavior of legal entities which can act in a manor that individuals wouldn't dare do (why else would limited liability exist? Because it protects owners from liability and irrational, risky and/or dangerous behaviors that they wouldn't do as individuals but the bureaucratic machine may do on its own--speaking abstractly).
Some think that government intervening in business behavior is an affront to liberty (whom I'm not really sure...of the ceo? shareholders?). Some of us think that businesses are an abstraction that in and of themselves have no inalienable rights.
How about the pursuit of happiness... that ones a doozy! Take that one for a ride as you please.
Seventy-four percent (74%) agree with the assertion that “all men are created equal” while just 23% disagree.
Again, Red, Blue, Green, and whatever color the libertarians are; who doesn't believe all men are created equal?
Fifty-six percent (56%) agree with the view that governments derive their only just authority from the “consent of the governed.” Interestingly, one-in-four Americans (25%) disagree.
What a culture of dependency is i'm not really sure... (I mean I have an intuitive feel for it and could make my case, but i'm not sure what others meaning of a culture of dependency is and i'm not making the claim so I'd have to leave it to them to make the case)
But what if the consent of the governed empowers the government to create a culture of dependency? [side question: How can a government create a culture? Is there a specific law that was enacted or a number of things that in of themselves wouldn't do so? Wow so many questions are created from this one...]
Other survey data shows that voters nationwide overwhelming trust the American people to make key decisions more than they trust political leaders. Those who disagree and hold a Political Class perspective represent a small minority of the population.
Shoot, that's one of the reasons I'm running for office. I think electing someone for a fourth term is about as "political leader" as it gets. Part of my campaign is going to be won or lost on making that case.
But outside of ideological lens how does one find this to be a resounding opposition to Obama and the Congresses attempts to create a culture of dependency [again I'll refer to above point on what that terms means]?
Nevertheless, happy fourth to
Jason (whom you should be reading if you aren't), my cohorts in politics, and my blog readers--all five of you!
The governments investment in creating the computer and Internet has created a wonderful forum for Americans (and citizens all over the globe--from Iran to
Mindanao) to debate, discuss, and quite often disagree on important political questions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We are all truly blessed.
Now, go blow some stuff up--just don't do it around my dog as he flips out when he hears fireworks.
Posted via web from Jim Nichols
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