The January 6 Commission Reminds Us
That The Language We Use Creates Our Values and
Shapes Our Behavior
… all men are created equal, … they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…
– The Declaration of Independence
First of all, all men (people) are not created equal. Some are born with high IQs into great privilege. Others are born with low IQs into great poverty and no privilege.
In a democracy the function of government is to restrain those of high intelligence and strong ambition from stealing everything from the rest of us, and to create opportunities for those of us that have so little.
Secondly, what utter nonsense about a “creator” that “endows” us with “un(in)alienable” rights. In my view, there is no creator (except, maybe Charles Darwin). None of these “rights” come from an invisible man in the sky.
Whatever “rights” we have are created by our fellow humans, many of whom gave their lives so we could have any rights at all.
And, oh, BTW, these rights are far from “inalienable.” They can be taken away in a heartbeat. Think: Supreme Court or Trump’s second term. Abortion. Birth control. Same sex marriage. Voting rights. Hell, pretty soon, SCOTUS may rule that the only people who can vote are rich, white, land-owning males.
“No one is above the law.”
Ha, ha, ha. Seriously? Wealthy, Ivy League elites do not send other wealthy, Ivy League elites to prison. Period. (Well, a very rare exception: Bernie Madoff) Do we really think Steve Bannon (Harvard MBA / net worth: $20M) will see jail time? I wouldn’t bet on it…. much less Trump.
Rick, you hit the nail on the head here. Great points!
A good illustration on how the use/meaning of words has changed with time. Interpretation is (almost) everything, and that interpretation is determined by an individual’s experiences and beliefs.
If Garland does not prosecute Trump for treason with the massive amounts of evidence the Committee has uncovered, then the system has truly broken down. And you are right, we will never see this lying, selfish, malicious, monster who has destroyed our fragile democracy in jail. That’s why I moved to Mexico. We have our problems too, but the government is not trying to destroy the country altogether.