Comments on: A Republic, if You Can Keep It

By: James Wilson

James Wilson — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 23:07:10 +0000

To the non-lawyer, most bills are very confusing. So instead of citing chapter and verse, the temptation is to defer to the interpretations of lawyers, and derive our opinions from them.

By: Graham Strouse

Graham Strouse — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:13:32 +0000

Ilana,

I was wondering when you would get around to this one. Is it just me or does it seem sometimes that the US approach to government is a bit like a bulemic’s approach to diet & exercise? Eat too much, vomit it up and spend two hours on a treadmill.

It’s sort of difficult for a civilized nation to survive without any form of constituted authority less it degenerate into, well, Iraq. But I rather thought the whole point of that little affair in the late 18th century was to ensure that the Powers That Be in the US would forever possess precisely as much power as they need to ensure a stable & prosperous society, no less & certainly no more.

That was the idea, wasn’t it?

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 19:26:58 +0000

I read on NRO’s The Corner a few weeks ago a post designed to soothe Americans that, paraphrasing, read something like this: “Relax! The bill’s provisions only applies to foreigners and not American citizens’. How foolish I thought. People don’t understand the “slippery slope” argument and/or are apparently unaware that it is a predictable model most of the time. They are also ignorant I guess of the motivations of government as well as the history of government across the board and across the centuries.

Government is like a cancer, that won’t stopped spreading, eating, consuming and KILLING unless forcibly stopped, through physical war or through a system of law designed to stop it. We have a system of law for that purpose and it is being eroded. Without that system of law in place, there is NOTHING to stop the government from moving on to American citizens and suspending their rights next! The precedent is now in place and what is to stop it from applying to Americans? Nothing! The law is weakened and made meaningless through these measures and thus, Americans can’t expect the law to protect them!

People don’t see the danger. Fools!!!