Silence is Consent

If you don't speak up you accept what is happening. This site was born out of the mainstream media's inability to cover the news. I am just an American cititzen trying to spread the word in the era of FCC consolidation, post 9/11 Patriot Act hysteria, hackable voting machines and war without end. I rant and post news items I perceive to be relevant to our current situation.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
- Thomas Jefferson

Social Security is not broken and therefore does not need to be fixed

So Called Social Security Crisis (SCSSC)

Comments, questions, corrections, rebuttals are always welcome.

Monday, January 31, 2005
 
I Don't Have To Like Bush To Love America!
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
- President Thomas Jefferson

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
- Matthew 5:9

Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
- James Madison, from "Political Observations," April 20, 1795 in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume IV, page 491.
The title of this post is from a bumper sticker I see on a black VW Beetle in the parking garage where I work. I thought it was a fitting title on the subject of anti-war/anti-bush = unpatriotic/anti-American.

In my response to a comment on one of my posts a week or so ago I made reference to the fact that our country was founded on dissent and to realize that all one needs to do is go and read the Declaration of Independence to be reminded of that fact. This is not an issue of whether one sides argument is or isn't patriotic. What this country is about is the opportunity to express your ideas and opinions no matter if the king likes them or not. In my opinion calling someone that speaks out against the government unpatriotic is wrong. If whether your policy, ideas or whatever you are trying to put forward is a good idea and you are a competent person you should be able to take the scrutiny and explain/sell your side of the argument. So to me calling someone unpatriotic for expressing their opinion is cowardly.

As far as being anti-war that too is a choice that anyone can make and whether or not someone supports a war is contingent on many factors. I don't want to get into lies and justifications for this or any other war because there is probably a case to be made both ways for every war. Each war has it's own set of circumstances and the case for or against each may be flimsier on either side depending on the war. But if the justification was weak and the continuation is even weaker how can it be unpatriotic to fight for the return of our soldiers that were put in harms way for the wrong reasons!?

Finally the bible passage above is one of the eight beatitudes set out in the fifth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. The priest in my church preached on them yesterday. A peacemaker is a good thing to aspire to be.

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