He that would make his own liberty secure
must guard even his enemy from oppression;
for if he violates this duty
he establishes a precedent
that will reach to himself.
— Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government (1791)
Tag Archives: america
Guard Your Enemies from Oppression —> Thomas Paine
The Founders Protected Persons, not Citizens
The founders intended the Constitution to apply to Americans, aliens, citizens, non-citizens, lawful combatants, enemy combatants, innocents, the guilty, those who wish us well, and those who wish us ill.
The Constitution applies to persons, not just citizens.
If you read the Constitution, its protections are not limited to Americans.
And that was written intentionally, because at the time it was written, they didn’t know what Native Americans would be.
When the post civil war amendments were added, they didn’t know how blacks would be considered, because they had a decision of the Supreme Court called Dred Scott, that said blacks are not persons.
So in order to make sure the Constitution protected every human being:
- American, alien;
- citizen, non-citizen;
- lawful combatant, enemy combatant;
- innocent, guilty;
- those who wish us well, those who wish us ill…
…they use the broadest possible language,
to make it clear:
Wherever the government goes,
the Constitution goes,
and wherever the Constitution goes,
the protections that it guarantees restrain the government
and requires it to protect those rights.
— Judge Andrew Napolitano
Fewer Laws
The US Code, only a subset of all laws and regulations on the books today. The US imprisons a higher percentage of its populace than Communist China does, more than Iran, more than did the Soviet Union, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or the Taliban's Afghanistan.
America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.
By trying to seize far more power than is necessary over American citizens, the federal government is destroying its own legitimacy.
We face a choice not of anarchy or authoritarianism, but a choice of limited government or unlimited government.
– James Bovard, Lost Rights; The Destruction of American Liberty
But Now You Know
Patriotism Be Not Blind
“My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober”.
– G. K. Chesterton, A Defence of Patriotism
But Now You Know
How, Exactly, Are They Defending Our Freedom?
Davey Crocket, on Socialism
I want people to be able to get what they need to live: enough food, a place to live, and an education for their children. Government does not provide these as well as private charities and businesses.
—Colonel David Crockett, member of Congress 1827-32, 1832-35
Words of the Sentient 