Scorn On The Fourth Of July
Jul 04, 06 | 12:41 pm by John LopezAPPENDIX.
Inasmuch as the Constitution was never signed, nor agreed to, by anybody, as a contract, and therefore never bound anybody, and is now binding upon nobody; and is, moreover, such an one as no people can ever hereafter be expected to consent to, except as they may be forced to do so at the point of the bayonet, it is perhaps of no importance what its true legal meaning, as a contract, is. Nevertheless, the writer thinks it proper to say that, in his opinion, the Constitution is no such instrument as it has generally been assumed to be but that by false interpretations, and naked usurpations, the government has been made in practice a very widely, and almost wholly, different thing from what the Constitution itself purports to authorize. He has heretofore written much, and could write much more, to prove that such is the truth. But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain—that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
— Lysander Spooner, No Treason No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority, 1870.
July 4th, 2006 at Jul 04, 06 | 3:48 pm
“Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now if you cry aloud to waken a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you think you are doing them a good turn?” - Lu Xun
July 4th, 2006 at Jul 04, 06 | 9:08 pm
Oddly enough I’m not trying to do anyone a good turn here.
Since you’re so concerned with the pitiful masses, remember that essentially 100% of the populance can and will, using your analogy, go right back to sleep anyhow. I mean, look at the responses to Beck’s rational evangelism. Pure agony awakened:
July 5th, 2006 at Jul 05, 06 | 9:56 pm
Shitski, dude. Read what’s in there now. Any of those people look like they’re waking up any time soon?
Those are the hundred percenters, and we’re the zero percenters. Remember?
July 5th, 2006 at Jul 05, 06 | 10:32 pm
Wow, that’s too bad. I used to think Kim was worth reading. I guess I can cross him off the list.
July 7th, 2006 at Jul 07, 06 | 4:04 pm
And yet, even so…
I heard a voice. It called, consoling,
It said to me: “Come hither, now.
Abandon your forsaken, sinful land,
Abandon Russia, leave forever.
And from your hands I’ll wash the blood,
I’ll draw the black shame from your heart,
And with a new name I will cloak
The wounds of misery and loss.”
But I, dispassionate and calm,
Concealed my ears beneath my hands,
To hinder this unworthy speech
From soiling my mournful soul.
Anna Akhmatova, Autumn 1917
July 7th, 2006 at Jul 07, 06 | 4:16 pm
More hot Akhmatova action at:
Link
[Don’t dump raw URLs into comments, because I have to go back and clean them up. You specifically should know better. JL]