Foofie wrote:blatham wrote:foofie said
Quote:That's not my job to criticize my country, nor should it be my job.
That's an interesting understanding of the relationship between citizen and his/her government. I assume the principle would hold true for an Iranian or a North Korean or, a tg alluded, for a german citizen in 1935?
...Yes, citizens are not supposed to criticize their respective governments, if the government doesn't value that criticism...
Alright. So, to recapitulate, you hear a "different drummer". Your drummer and you hold that citizens ought not to criticize their country/government if the government would rather not have such criticisms floating about. This seems to be, for you and your drummer, a fundamental principle of proper citizenship and, as you clarify above, it would apply to contemporary North Korean citizens or German citizens while their government was processing some 6 million jews. Or to Iraqis under Sadaam. Or the citizens of Leningrad under soviet communist governance. Or Iranians if their government decided to nuke Israel or Israelis if Israel decided to nuke Iran. OK then.
If nothing else commendable might be said about this opinion, it is at least consistent as principle.
But, as you are an American and, I presume, consider yourself a good American (that is, an American who holds true to basic and traditional American values) all the above leads me to wonder who your drummer is and where it is that you heard his compelling paradiddles?
Perhaps you bumped into him while studying the constitution? But then it becomes a bit tricky making sense of that first ammendment...
Quote:Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech
Except if it criticizes the government, of course. Citizens can say anything they want about the weather or the rules of bingo. Because, as citizens, they are free in America as a matter of constitutional rights.
Of course, it would also follow, in line with your principled approach to citizenship, that the proper role of the press in America is to pass along receipes, news of puppies in trees or bus accidents and to act as a megaphone for the Dear Leaders.
Perhaps
Lincoln is your drummer? Perhaps not, though, because Abe spoke out against the Mexican-American War, which he attributed to
Perhaps it is
Jefferson you hear? No, on the other hand, maybe not, your principle being a tad difficult to square with; "
Quote:When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
Perhaps some other Founder's genius has inspired your drummer?
Adams, maybe?
Quote:The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.
Maybe your drummer is an honored jurist and constitutional scholar? Perhaps
Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote;
Quote:The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think
No problem, let's keep looking.
Justice Hugo Black?
Quote:The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands.
I know! Previous Presidents of the US could be the place we'll find your principle's inspiration and voice.
Kenney? Quote:"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is afraid of its people."
FDR? Quote:If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands, they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free.
Truman? Quote:There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have
.
Surely,
Washington??
Quote:If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
That didn't seem to bear fruit.
Could you then please clarify for the rest of us Foofie, just where your noble American citizenship principle comes from?
