Constitutional Libertarianism

Constitutional Libertarianism

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

If you want a better America, then be a better American.

Being a citizen of the U.S.A., commonly known as being an American, is no simple task.

It really requires a person to do some work to really "get" what it means to BE an American.

Unfortunately, it seems that a great many people do not "get it".  Throughout history it has much been the same and American history is chock full of examples of people who were far from the best examples of "getting" what it means and takes to BE an American.

We need to keep in mind though that the U.S.A., that America, and "being" an American, is defined by our founding documents.  Those documents represent the ideals and the best of what America wanted to be and what it can be.  IF the right people are placed in positions to carry it out and represent it it properly.

Therein lies the problem.  Many ideals are just that, ideal, but people are people and subject to failure as ALL people are.  We can look at our founding documents and be excited and motivated because those documents MEAN something.

If we then look at the people, the imperfect and fallible people that have been noted in history, who represent those ideals, well, they can fall sometimes very short of those ideals.

Of the men who put the words to paper that "All men are  created equal", some of them owned other people as property who were slaves.  Hypocrites? Absolutely.  Yet that doesn't change what the words mean and represent.  It means that those people fell short of rising to the expectation of that ideal.

Lots of people from a variety of religions will, when their particular religion is challenged based on the actions of some who claim to represent it, will ask and even demand that you do not judge the religion by it's supposed followers but by what it is really supposed to be.  They will tell you that people are not perfect and a few are not enough to judge it as a whole.

The same respect then should be give to the U.S.  Our founding documents have set up an ideal and a path that expects it's citizens to work at to live up to. This is our system of Law.  It requires it's adherents to see the Law for what it is and to respect the law as the last word.  It requires each person to know the law and to not expect the law to bend low to accommodate each individual.  Instead, each individual is expected to extend themselves to meeting the law's expectations.

If there are some who don't "get" that or choose to ignore it or even deliberately work to undermine it, it doesn't mean our whole law system is bad or flawed.  it means that just like many religions, there are people who do not represent it the way it is intended to work.

There are examples in U.S. history in which people who were elected to the government or employed by the government did other people very wrong.  There is no excuse for what they did and anyone who knows the Law, knows that what they did was wrong according to the law.

Yet and still, there are people who want to use those people who failed America and failed to represent the Law the way it is supposed to be.  They still want to hold those people as evidence the the whole system of law is bad.  That's not true at all. 

The People as a whole have been lied to by politicians who will say one thing then do another just to get into office and act for personal gain, abusing the system and the People's trust.

The People are often apathetic and lazy, unwilling to rise to the expectations of the founding documents and be educated participants in the American system.  Having thus failed to meet those participation expectations, they then want to whine and moan and complain about the results afterward which might have been a much different outcome had they as people, not failed to meet those expectations.  No, instead they choose to blame the system as a whole.  It sounds ridiculous but it's true.

People nowadays are known for saying "Don't judge me, you don't know what all has come up in my life to make me what I am."  yet at the same time, they want to judge the entire U.S. system based on what some failing people have done.

The system hasn't failed.  The people have failed the system and being people, instead of working harder to get back to where we are expected to be, we have so many who cry instead to change the system to lower it's expectations so they can have things easy.

If you want a better America, then be a better American.