At 1:26 PM -0400 6/20/08, Andrew Ballard wrote:
On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 12:42 PM, Daniel Brown <parasane@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:I don't want to start any arguments or flame wars, but it's been my opinion for years that the US should require at least one year in the armed services as well. If you want freedom and privileges, you should earn them, not feel automatically entitled to them by birth.... except that your argument is EXACTLY opposite language of the preamble from our own (US) Constitution: "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." It has been a cornerstone of our society from the beginning that no one has to EARN freedom. Nevertheless, I have the utmost respect for those who have sacrificed to ensure that liberty. Andrew
That's not exactly what was meant by those words -- you have to consider the context of when they were said. While those words were indeed said, the un-said part was that we INSISTED to have those rights by all means possible.
True it is/was the cornerstone of our society, but only from our willingness and commitment to defend ourselves against all those would deny us those rights.
You see, one didn't automatically receive those rights at that time, nor now, without the ability to enforce them. That's the reason for a strong military.
However, IMO we shouldn't be using our Military as an option for all diplomatic issues. That has a tendency to really piss people off big time.
Anyway, as it's been said -- this thread is way off-topic. Cheers, tedd -- ------- http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
