On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 11:34:15PM -0600, Levi Pearson wrote: > Andy Bradford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >
>
> Here are some other interesting passages from the Declaration of
> Independence:
>
> "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
> the consent of the governed"
>
> This suggests to me that the government may justly develop powers
> beyond the basic protection of natural rights through democratic
> means.
Ah, Levi, well done. An excellent example of twisting the meaning of a
document by selective quotation. Try quoting the complete sentence and
providing a citation, like so:
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm
But the full sentence doesn't support your interpretation, does it?
If you want to know what Jefferson and the Continental Congress meant,
you've got a bit of reading to do, starting with eight hundred years
of the British Whig tradition, and some of the more radical Whigs like
William Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney. Then there's English law,
starting with Coke and Blackstone.
Just as a teaser, by "the consent of the governed", they did not mean
democratic elections, hanging chads or no.
--
Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign
Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards
and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email
http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email
Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature
/* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
