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May 30th, 2005, 04:55 PM
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#1
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Snowball, My Angel Baby
| Admin | | Colonial Fleets |
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Somewhere across the heavens... aka Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 9,187
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"Good News" - Political Issues
Religion and Politics - 2 of the most divisive issues amongst us.
Well, let's see if we can turn the tables a bit.
I'm asking for folks to submit stories where the Political system was used, in the way intended by our forefathers, for the betterment of society.
These stories can be from any jurisdiction - national, state/provincial, county, or city/town/village.
Let's see what GOOD NEWS we can spread.
The prize - a warm heart.
BST
__________________
Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
The night is falling
You have come to journey's end
Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across the distant shore .
Children are a message that we send
to a time that we will never see.
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June 11th, 2005, 05:24 PM
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#2
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Squadron Leader
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Morristown, NJ
Posts: 1,795
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An appropriate topic for me to make my 1000th post in.
Having taught my students the other night about the general story of the framing of the US Constitution, I impress upon them how the story of our Constitution coming together represents the most fascinating story in Western Civilization of how the American experience transformed the world. Consider that before the United States existed, there were no republic forms of government anywhere in the world. This was because monarchy was considered to be the oldest, most natural form of government and this attitude was shaped by the obvious failures of Greek city-state republics and the Roman Republic. They worked when they governed over a small community but as they took on size, the demands required of them necessitated casting aside republicanism in favor of powerful leaders like Alexander The Great and Julius Caesar.
So when James Madison drew up the Constitution he in effect challenged 2000 years of thinking: He said that a republic CAN work for a large nation and that a system can be created to respect the rights of majority and minority in it, and that productive results can be accomplished. America could be a test case to the rest of the world by succeeding where no one else had done so before.
And 200 plus years later, we no longer think of monarchy as the most natural form of government, and the fact that America succeeded in bucking 2000 plus years of history is for me, the greatest reason why that is today the case. Society as a whole was thus bettered by the simple act of what the men in 1787 were willing to try, and because we have endured as a stable nation ever since, even through calamities such as the Civil War, we continue to be an example in that regard.
__________________
"They hate us with every fiber of their being. We love....freedom, independence, the right to question. To them it is an alien way of living."-The non-myopic wisdom of Commander Adama, "Saga Of A Star World"
"How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."-Ronald Reagan
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June 27th, 2005, 09:34 PM
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#3
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Strike Leader
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wenatchee, Soviet of WA., Ex U.S.A.
Posts: 4,491
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Being of Scots descent, I include the following, since it was an action undertaken by the British Crown, and therefore political.
I think of the Anglican missionaries, sent out from England in the 18th and 19th Centuries, to places such as Africa. Now, before anyone decries the "evils of Colonialism and Imperialism", and yes, since the Church of England is the established state Church of that country it isw also a political entity by default, I wish to point out that once significant numbers had been converted, and sizeable Xtian communities established, one thing that diminished was intertribal warfare, and cannabalism. In many "primitive" parts of the world, such actions have continued since time immemorial, with tribes fighting for land, water, women, pride, or victims to either enslave, sacrifice, or eat. Much the same occurred in India, with the outlawing of sutee. or the burning alive of a man's widow on his funeral pyre. While no enterprise is perfect, the fact that millions gave up a life-style rooted in an endless cycle of slaughter, enslavement, and other horrors is a testament to the positive effects of what was as much a political as a religious act.
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Populos stultus viris indignas honores saepe dat. -Horace
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Fortuna est caeca. -Cicero
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"You know the night before was a tough one when even the sound of the fizz hurts your head." -Mike Hammer.
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For fans of the Classic Battlestar Galactica series
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