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#31
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The United States is actually more dependent on rich people topay taxes.
On 10/22/2012 8:00 PM, Nickname unavailable wrote:
its we the people, not i got mine so **** off. We'll all be over for dinner tomorrow, make sure you stop off and get enough chicken for everyone. |
#32
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The United States is actually more dependent on rich people to pay taxes.
On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:07:16 -0700 (PDT), Nickname unavailable wrote:
On Oct 22, 2:53*pm, Planet Visitor II wrote: On Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:56:00 -0700 (PDT), Nickname unavailable wrote: On Oct 19, 11:37 pm, Planet Visitor II wrote: yea, there is no proof at all, except their own writings and how the constitution was crafted. blubber on, i beat your ass. Logical fallacy -- Argumentum ad verecundiam. See -- http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...html#authority deathly silence and -- Argumentum ad hominem. See -- http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...c.html#hominem deathly silence Your apology for having no proof of your argument is accepted. Planet Visitor II face it light weight, you got nothing, i got this, I don't see the word "rich," or "socialism," nor does "promoting the general welfare" argue the rich have to do it. *Since doing so certainly doesn't _promote the general welfare_ of those giving voluntarily. While, keep in mind, those words were framed while slavery was still a powerful force in the U.S. *I don't believe the Founding Fathers intended those words to apply to Black slaves in the U.S. deathly silence No matter how you slice and dice it, the rich giving handouts to those not as rich only ****es off both the giver and the taker. *Blacks hark back to the days they were slaves, and needed to kiss the White Man's ass to get a proper meal. *Which is why racists are so supportive of welfare." * Believing it best to keep those Blacks in the ghetto with handouts, rather than giving them a hand up to achieve equality in social, economic and educational opportunities. deathly silence It's rather obvious that the reaction of those receiving such handouts only increases their rage; and their belief that anti-Social behavior is justified because the world is filled with racists giving handouts, to keep them subdued as if having been given a lobotomy. *The socially disadvantaged are not as stupid as you would make them out to be, in you arguing to give them money to keep them quiet. deathly silence Those who support handouts rather than giving a hand up to the socially disadvantaged are either oblivious to the psychological reactions of those being placed into second-class citizenship; or they are racists knowing this and wanting to perpetuate keeping them as second-class citizens and nothing else. deathly silence Would you rather be given a handout, viewed as a second-class citizen, or given a hand up to gain equality in social, economic, and educational opportunities? *I've never argued we should reduce taxes; but I have argued against how we allocate those taxes, in giving handouts rather than establishing a social framework that goes toward creating equality with that tax revenue. *That should be the REAL focus of the words "provide for the general welfare." deathly silence Planet Visitor II The Constitution of the United States Preamble Note We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. See -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Welfare_clause QUOTE -- "Taxing and Spending Clause The United States Constitution contains two references to "the General Welfare", one occurring in the Preamble and the other in the Taxing and Spending Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court has held the mention of the clause in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution "has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government of the United States or on any of its Departments." Moreover, the Supreme Court held the understanding of the General Welfare Clause contained in the Taxing and Spending Clause adheres to the construction given it by Associate Justice Joseph Story in his 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. Justice Story concluded that the General Welfare Clause is not a grant of general legislative power, but a qualification on the taxing power which includes within it a federal power to spend federal revenues on matters of general interest to the federal government. The Court described Justice Story's view as the "Hamiltonian position", as Alexander Hamilton had elaborated his view of the taxing and spending powers in his 1791 Report on Manufactures. Story, however, attributes the position's initial appearance to Thomas Jefferson, in his Opinion on the Bank of the United States. As such, these clauses in the U.S. Constitution are an atypical use of a general welfare clause, and are not considered grants of a general legislative power to the federal government." Section 8 - Powers of Congress The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. THE SUPREMACY CLAUSE Article. VI. This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The preemption doctrine derives from the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which states that the "Constitution and the laws of the United States...shall be the supreme law of the land...anything in the constitutions or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." This means of course, that any federal law--even a regulation of a federal agency--trumps any conflicting state law. Article V - Amendment Note1 - Note2 - Note3 The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. so any law, treaty or regulation that is deemed constitutional, shall be the law of the land. its really quite simple. the constitution was crafted by liberals, who gave the constitution broad powers to legislate, tax, regulate, negate state law, mandate, tariff, to promote and provide for the general welfare, to ensure domestic tranquility, and To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.)) and of course the extensive writings of the founders original intent for a interventionist government, socialism. oh i forgot, what do you think a interventionist government is, its socialism. and as i have proven to you, the founders were against concentrated and inherited wealth, its why the federal government has the right to tax enshrined into the constitution, along with other liberal interventionist policies. i have proven this to you many times before. you are such a light weight. your logic and critical thinking skills, are at best, appalling. So you're a socialist... so what??? Capitalism doesn't support interventionist government. See -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism Planet Visitor II |
#33
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The United States is actually more dependent on rich people to pay taxes.
On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:00:44 -0700 (PDT), Nickname unavailable wrote:
On Oct 22, 2:53*pm, Planet Visitor II wrote: On Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:56:00 -0700 (PDT), Nickname unavailable wrote: On Oct 19, 11:37 pm, Planet Visitor II wrote: yea, there is no proof at all, except their own writings and how the constitution was crafted. blubber on, i beat your ass. Logical fallacy -- Argumentum ad verecundiam. See -- http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...html#authority and -- Argumentum ad hominem. See -- http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...c.html#hominem Your apology for having no proof of your argument is accepted. Planet Visitor II face it light weight, you got nothing, i got this, I don't see the word "rich," or "socialism," nor does "promoting the general welfare" argue the rich have to do it. *Since doing so certainly doesn't _promote the general welfare_ of those giving voluntarily. While, keep in mind, those words were framed while slavery was still a powerful force in the U.S. *I don't believe the Founding Fathers intended those words to apply to Black slaves in the U.S. deathly silence No matter how you slice and dice it, the rich giving handouts to those not as rich only ****es off both the giver and the taker. *Blacks hark back to the days they were slaves, and needed to kiss the White Man's ass to get a proper meal. *Which is why racists are so supportive of welfare." * Believing it best to keep those Blacks in the ghetto with handouts, rather than giving them a hand up to achieve equality in social, economic and educational opportunities. deathly silence It's rather obvious that the reaction of those receiving such handouts only increases their rage; and their belief that anti-Social behavior is justified because the world is filled with racists giving handouts, to keep them subdued as if having been given a lobotomy. *The socially disadvantaged are not as stupid as you would make them out to be, in you arguing to give them money to keep them quiet. deathly silence Those who support handouts rather than giving a hand up to the socially disadvantaged are either oblivious to the psychological reactions of those being placed into second-class citizenship; or they are racists knowing this and wanting to perpetuate keeping them as second-class citizens and nothing else. deathly silence Would you rather be given a handout, viewed as a second-class citizen, or given a hand up to gain equality in social, economic, and educational opportunities? *I've never argued we should reduce taxes; but I have argued against how we allocate those taxes, in giving handouts rather than establishing a social framework that goes toward creating equality with that tax revenue. *That should be the REAL focus of the words "provide for the general welfare." deathly silence Planet Visitor II The Constitution of the United States Preamble Note We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Section 8 - Powers of Congress The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. THE SUPREMACY CLAUSE Article. VI. This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The preemption doctrine derives from the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which states that the "Constitution and the laws of the United States...shall be the supreme law of the land...anything in the constitutions or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." This means of course, that any federal law--even a regulation of a federal agency--trumps any conflicting state law. Article V - Amendment Note1 - Note2 - Note3 The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. so any law, treaty or regulation that is deemed constitutional, shall be the law of the land. its really quite simple. the constitution was crafted by liberals, who gave the constitution broad powers to legislate, tax, regulate, negate state law, mandate, tariff, to promote and provide for the general welfare, to ensure domestic tranquility, and To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.)) and of course the extensive writings of the founders original intent for a interventionist government, socialism. its we the people, not i got mine so **** off. you are not only selfish and greedy, but you are a wealth worshiping ignorant fool, and un-american to boot. someone as stupid as you, this will go WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH way over your pointy little wealth worshiping head. Heh... I know I win when the other begins personal attacks, while showing his total ignorance of the English language. Suck it up, my son. Socialism is nothing other than a form of slavery. "All socialism involves slavery." -- Herbert Spencer Planet Visitor II Thoughts from the Great Depression As mass production has to be accompanied by mass consumption, mass consumption, in turn, implies a distribution of wealth -- not of existing wealth, but of wealth as it is currently produced -- to provide men with buying power equal to the amount of goods and services offered by the nation's economic machinery. Instead of achieving that kind of distribution, a giant suction pump had by 1929-30 drawn into a few hands an increasing portion of currently produced wealth. This served them as capital accumulations. But by taking purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied to themselves the kind of effective demand for their products that would justify a reinvestment of their capital accumulations in new plants. In consequence, as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When their credit ran out, the game stopped. (Eccles, Marriner S. 1951. Beckoning Frontiers: Public and Personal Recollections (New York: Alfred A. Knopf): p. 76 And was it handouts they needed... or jobs??? When the wealth of a nation dries up, there is not enough to go around for everyone. The only cure for that is productivity... not handouts. I suppose next you'll be blaming the dust bowl on capitalism. "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." -- Winston Churchill "Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing. " -- Vladimir Lenin How's that going for you??? Planet Visitor II |
#34
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The United States is actually more dependent on rich people topay taxes.
On Oct 23, 12:18Â*am, Planet Visitor II wrote:
On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:07:16 -0700 (PDT), Nickname unavailable wrote: On Oct 22, 2:53 pm, Planet Visitor II wrote: On Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:56:00 -0700 (PDT), Nickname unavailable wrote: On Oct 19, 11:37 pm, Planet Visitor II wrote: yea, there is no proof at all, except their own writings and how the constitution was crafted. blubber on, i beat your ass. Logical fallacy -- Argumentum ad verecundiam. See -- http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...html#authority deathly silence and -- Argumentum ad hominem. See -- http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...c.html#hominem deathly silence Your apology for having no proof of your argument is accepted. Planet Visitor II face it light weight, you got nothing, i got this, I don't see the word "rich," or "socialism," nor does "promoting the general welfare" argue the rich have to do it. Since doing so certainly doesn't _promote the general welfare_ of those giving voluntarily. While, keep in mind, those words were framed while slavery was still a powerful force in the U.S. I don't believe the Founding Fathers intended those words to apply to Black slaves in the U.S. deathly silence no silence, JUST ROTFLOL!! only a complete idiot would say i see nothing hear about socialism. what do you think the power to tax and intervene in markets is moron!!! No matter how you slice and dice it, the rich giving handouts to those not as rich only ****es off both the giver and the taker. Blacks hark back to the days they were slaves, and needed to kiss the White Man's ass to get a proper meal. Which is why racists are so supportive of welfare." Believing it best to keep those Blacks in the ghetto with handouts, rather than giving them a hand up to achieve equality in social, economic and educational opportunities. deathly silence NO SILENCE, JUST ROTFLOL!!! still does not refute the facts that the majority of the founders were liberals, who despised concentrated wealth and power, and enshrined the constitution with the tools to intervene))) It's rather obvious that the reaction of those receiving such handouts only increases their rage; and their belief that anti-Social behavior is justified because the world is filled with racists giving handouts, to keep them subdued as if having been given a lobotomy. The socially disadvantaged are not as stupid as you would make them out to be, in you arguing to give them money to keep them quiet. deathly silence NO SILENCE, JUST ROTFLOL!!! still does not refute the facts that the majority of the founders were liberals, who despised concentrated wealth and power, and enshrined the constitution with the tools to intervene))) what a light weight, what a brown nose wealth worshiper. your opinion is not fact. Those who support handouts rather than giving a hand up to the socially disadvantaged are either oblivious to the psychological reactions of those being placed into second-class citizenship; or they are racists knowing this and wanting to perpetuate keeping them as second-class citizens and nothing else. deathly silence NO SILENCE, JUST ROTFLOL!!! still does not refute the facts that the majority of the founders were liberals, who despised concentrated wealth and power, and enshrined the constitution with the tools to intervene))) what a light weight, what a brown nose wealth worshiper. your opinion is not fact. Would you rather be given a handout, viewed as a second-class citizen, or given a hand up to gain equality in social, economic, and educational opportunities? I've never argued we should reduce taxes; but I have argued against how we allocate those taxes, in giving handouts rather than establishing a social framework that goes toward creating equality with that tax revenue. That should be the REAL focus of the words "provide for the general welfare." deathly silence NO SILENCE, JUST ROTFLOL!!! still does not refute the facts that the majority of the founders were liberals, who despised concentrated wealth and power, and enshrined the constitution with the tools to intervene))) what a light weight, what a brown nose wealth worshiper. your opinion is not fact. Planet Visitor II The Constitution of the United States Preamble Note We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. See --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Welfare_clause QUOTE -- "Taxing and Spending Clause The United States Constitution contains two references to "the General Welfare", one occurring in the Preamble and the other in the Taxing and Spending Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court has held the mention of the clause in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution "has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government of the United States or on any of its Departments." Moreover, the Supreme Court held the understanding of the General Welfare Clause contained in the Taxing and Spending Clause adheres to the construction given it by Associate Justice Joseph Story in his 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. Â*Justice Story concluded that the General Welfare Clause is not a grant of general legislative power, but a qualification on the taxing power which includes within it a federal power to spend federal revenues on matters of general interest to the federal government. The Court described Justice Story's view as the "Hamiltonian position", as Alexander Hamilton had elaborated his view of the taxing and spending powers in his 1791 Report on Manufactures. Story, however, attributes the position's initial appearance to Thomas Jefferson, in his Opinion on the Bank of the United States. Â*As such, these clauses in the U.S. Constitution are an atypical use of a general welfare clause, and are not considered grants of a general legislative power to the federal government." try as you might, you got nothing. and the original intent is not only enshrined in the preamble, its enshrined in the constitution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preambl...s_Constitution The Preamble to the United States Constitution is a brief introductory statement of the fundamental purposes and guiding principles that the Constitution is meant to serve. In general terms it states, and courts have referred to it as reliable evidence of, the Founding Fathers' intentions regarding the Constitution's meaning and what they hoped it would achieve (especially as compared with the Articles of Confederation). We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,[1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. oh i forgot, what do you think a interventionist government is, its socialism. and as i have proven to you, the founders were against concentrated and inherited wealth, its why the federal government has the right to tax enshrined into the constitution, along with other liberal interventionist policies. i have proven this to you many times before. you are such a light weight. your logic and critical Â*thinking skills, are at best, appalling. So you're a socialist... so what??? Â*Capitalism doesn't support interventionist government. Â*See --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism capitalism is not the american constitution dummy. the constitution plainly is a interventionist document. you need to move somewhere else. you are un-american. i do not post this stuff for you, you are far to stupid, greedy, and selfish to even understand what america was founded on. i respond to idiots like you, because many other people are reading these posts, and they are getting a real good education. this will be a total waste of time, i have posted stuff like this to you, and others many time over, to no avail. the declaration of independence, the preamble, and the constitution is a social contract between the people, and our government. but here goes. http://www.libertynet.org/edcivic/socdisc.html "To Promote the General Welfare" A Discussion Guide for Developing Community Social Contracts 
Ed Schwartz, President 
Institute for the Study of Civic Values Philadelphia, Pa. Introduction Americans today learn a great deal about how to function as individuals, but not about how to work together. At the workplace, managers tell us to do our job and not to worry about the next guy. Within communities, even when we have the time to participate, it's not easy to determine what we might do with our neighbors, or how we might do it. Grassroots political organizations are becoming rare, leaving citizen participation in government to pollsters who tell politicians what we think without our ever talking to them directly. This is hardly what early Americans had in mind when they insisted that the "freedom of assembly" be included in the Bill of Rights. "A community," St. Augustine observed, "is a group of people united by the common objects of their love." Building community, then, involves identifying these "common objects," or shared goals, and working together to achieve them. We build community to strengthen the things that we value--or, phrased differently, to promote the values that we share. "Yes, but whose values?" some people ask today, as if they arrived from another planet, without reference to anyone but themselves. The founding citizens of the United States gave us clear answers to that question. In the Declaration of Independence, they insisted that we work together to preserve human equality --the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," for each individual. They insisted that our Constitution include a Bill of Rights, detailing the freedoms that every citizen would enjoy. Today, most of us can recite the opening lines of the Declaration and express pride in the Bill of Rights, even if we can't recall every amendment. These are most certainly "common objects" of the "love" that all Americans share. Our founding citizens also established the grounds on which they--and we--should work together in our communities and as a people. They defined these principles in the Preamble to the Constitution: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. If the major purpose of the Constitution was to define the structure and powers of the government that would enable "we the people" to achieve these goals, the Preamble was a statement of the shared values and goals that the government and the American people were expected to uphold. Sadly, much of what is said about American values today flies in the face of these fundamental principles. Many of us still talk about different racial, ethnic, and economic groups as if they were strangers in our midst, not part of "we the people," even though the entire force of American Constitutional history over two centuries has been to expand the document's conception of who is to be included in "the people." In 1789, it was white men. Under the Constitution today, it is everyone. We're all for security--personal security and national secuity. We rally together when we believe our security to be threatened. Yet the Preamble of the Constitution talks about security not merely for ourselves and the nation, but "the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity"--that is, all future generations, as well as the present one. Despite this commitment, how many of us today feel that we have no obligation to anyone's children but our own? Over the past two decades, we have heard that it's OK to "look out for No.1" without regard to other people. The Preamble calls for government and the people to work together to "promote the general welfare." Protecting "us" against "them" has become an obsession for many groups in this society threatening a total breakdown of the culture. The Constitution was designed in the hope of creating "a more perfect union" among diverse localities and groups. Almost every day we read about people and institutions that think that they're entitled to as much power as they can get, to do whatever they want. Under the Constitution, each succeeding generation was supposed "to establish justice." The framers of the Constitution were painfully aware that a free society would face either anarchy or tyranny unless guided by a commitment to the public good. They understood that as conditions changed, the application of these principles would change. The principles themselves were to be timeless. The citizen planning program that follows uses concepts from the Preamble to the Constitution to help neighborhood activists, government, and business leaders design real social contracts outlining mutual obligations to promote the general welfare of their communities. We are especially concerned to involve all citizens in the neighborhood in the discussion--tenants as well as landlords, public housing residents along with homeowners. They are all part of "we the people." As a starting point for the discussion, we offer a generally worded new social contract--one that expresses our commitment "to promote the general welfare" and to "establish justice" in terms of preserving viable neighborhoods and promoting economic opportunity for everyone. From there, we challenge participants to recognize that "we the people" in America means all members of a community, however and wherever they live--poor people as well as the middle- class and the rich; citizens of every color, nationality, and faith. Then we ask participants to identity the conditions in their communities that threaten their ability to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Based on their assessment of these conditions, we then help the participants develop social contracts specific to their own neighborhoods, defining how they can work with government and the private sector to promote the "general welfare" in relation to safety, the physical environment, children, and economic opportunity. Once participants have drafted a social contract, we ask them to explore how it might build unity, a "more perfect union" in the neighborhood. Finally, the participants define what they must do to "establish justice" as the fundamental principle guiding the social contract that they have drafted. Americans are now searching for a shared set of beliefs to unite us as citizens without stifling freedom or destroying diversity. That is what America's founders intended to give us in the Preamble to the Constitution. As this program makes clear, the principles are as relevant now as they were over 200 years ago, and a renewed commitment to the social contract can help us keep them alive. Edward Schwartz, President 
Institute for the Study of Civic Values July, 1992 "We the People" "Hearken not to the unnatural voice which tells you that the people of America, knit together as they are by so many cords of affection, can no longer live together as members of the same family; can no longer continue the mutual guardians of their mutual happiness; can no longer be fellow-citizens of one great, respectable, and flourishing empire." --James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787 "Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me." 
--Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is July 4th," 1852 "It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people,who formed this Union. We formed it not to give the blessings of liberty but to secure them; not the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people--women as well as men." 
--Susan B. Anthony, "On Women's Suffrage," 1873 Questions for Discussion 1. 2. Who are "the people" of the neighborhood? What are their backgrounds, their ethnic and religious origins, their economic conditions? If divisions exist, how do people understand them? 3. 4. Are all residents considered to be "we the people"--regardless of whether they're homeowners, tenants, or residents in public housing? 5. 6. Do the people of the neighborhood see themselves as part of a community, or merely as private residents of an area with little binding them together? 7. 8. Are the people of the neighborhood "knit together" by "cords of affection," as Madison characterized Americans in 1787? Or are there serious racial, ethnic, and economic strains among them? 9. 10. Can a shared commitment to American values, as articulated in the Preamble to the Constitution, become the foundation of a sense of community in the neighborhood? "Secure the Blessings of Liberty" "Energy in government is essential to that security against external and internal danger and to that prompt and salutary execution of the laws which enter into the very definition of good government." --James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787 "Education generates habits of application, of order, and the love of virtue; and controls, by the force of habit, any innate obliquities in our moral organization...Education, in like manner, engrafts a new man on the native stock, and improves what in his nature was vicious and perverse into qualities of virtue and social worth." 
--Thomas Jefferson, Report of the University of Virginia, 1818 "The charity visitor may say that every American man can find work and is bound to support his family. He soon discovers that the workingman, in the city at least, is utterly dependent for the tenure of his position upon the good will of his foreman, upon the business prosperity of the firm or the good health of the head of it; and that, once work is lost, it may take months to secure another place." 
-- Jane Addams, The Subtle Problems of Charity, 1899 Questions for Discussion 1. 2. Do people in the neighborhood feel that their liberty is secure? If not, what are the main reasons why people feel insecure? 3. 4. The passages from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Jane Addams suggest three main ingredients for security--strong law enforcement, a good educational system, and a healthy economy. Where does the neighborhood stand in relation to these conditions? 5. 6. Do people feel safe from crime? If not, what are the major kinds of crime that threaten people? Where is crime most common--on residential blocks, on the retail corridor? 7. 8. What are the major problems threatening the housing stock and the overall appearance and physical stability of the neighborhood? 9. 10. Who is at risk in the neighborhood--poor people, people with disabilities, others? Are children at risk on the streets, recreation centers, and at school? "Promote the General Welfare" "It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of government whatever has any other value that as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object." --James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787 "The Americans...are fond of explaining almost all the actions of their lives by the principle of self-interest rightly understood; they show with complacency how an enlightened regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist one another and inclines them willing to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the welfare of the state." 
--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1833 "We believe that this class of American citizens should protest emphatically and continually against the curtailment of their political rights...We believe also in protest against the curtailment of our civil rights...We especially complain against the denial of equal opportunities to us in economic life...Common school education should be free to all American children and compulsory. High school training should be adequately provided for all, and college training should be the monopoly of no class or race in any section of our common country...We plead for health--for an opportunity to live in decent houses and localities for a chance to raise our children in physical and moral cleanliness...And while we are demanding the rights enumerated above, God forbid that we should ever forget to urge corresponding duties upon our people: The duty to vote. The duty to respect the rights of others. The duty to work. The duty to obey the laws. The duty to be clean and orderly. The duty to send our children to school. The duty to respect ourselves, even as we respect others." --The Niagra Movement Leading to the NAACP, 1895 "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." 
--John F. Kennedy, "Inaugural Address," 1961 Questions for Developing a Social Contract 1. 2. Each of the passages that introduce this section demonstrate that Americans often take pride in working together for "the general welfare," for the public good. Can the residents of the neighborhood develop this ethic in addressing the problems that they face? 3. 4. Given the threats to personal and neighborhood security identified in the previous discussion, what responsibility will homeowners, landlords, tenants, and managers and residents of public housing play in promoting the "general welfare" in relation to crime, physical appearance, and children? What responsibility will residents and businesses take for creating economic opportunity for disadvantaged community residents? 5. Following these questions, we offer specific examples of programs addressing neighborhood problems that presume a social contract. Can the leadership of the neighborhood build a comprehensive "social contract for the general welfare" on this basis? Sample Social Contract Programs for the General Welfare Toward a Safe Neighborhood --Residents agree to patrol the streets and watch out for each others' homes as part of a Town Watch organization. --Residents work with the police and the courts in developing strategies to deal with crime and drugs as part of a community policing system and establish their own neighborhood justice system in cooperation with the courts to adjudicate minor juvenile offenses. Toward an Attractive Neighborhood --Residents join a Clean Blocks Program whereby the City performs special trash collection in response to organized block cleanups and participate in a City waste recycling program. --Residents work with the City and banks to develop a strategies for rehabilitation and occupany of vacant housing in the neighborhood and seek access to vacant land for community gardens. Toward a Decent Place to Raise Children--Our "Posterity" --Parents work in partnership with the neighborhood school to insure that young people are doing their homework and that the teachers are meeting their educational needs. --Residents cooperate with the City Recreation Department in developing and managing programs in area recreation centers and work with City anti-graffiti programs to find locations for former wall writers to paint murals. Toward Economic Opportunity --Neighborhood businesses agree to hire neighborhood residents and City job placement and training agencies agree to recruit trainees from neighborhood job banks. --Neighborhood residents agree to volunteer in adult literacy programs aimed at helping disadvantaged members of the neighborhood improve basic civic and vocational skills. "To Form a More Perfect Union" "This picture of the consequences of disunion cannot be too highly colored, or too often exhibited. Every man who loves peace, every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty ought to have it ever before his eyes that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it." 
--James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787 "Citizens who are individually powerless do not very clearly anticipate the strength that they may acquire by uniting together; it must be shown to them in order to be understood... In politics men combine for great undertakings, and the use they make of the principle of association in important affairs practically teaches them that it is their interest to help one another in those of less moment...Political associations may therefore may be seen as large free schools, where all the members of the community go to learn the theory of association." 
--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1833 "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or black." 
--Robert F. Kennedy, 1968 Questions for Discussion 1. 2. The "disunion" mentioned by James Madison was disunion among the States. "Disunion" in America today often occurs within communities and neighborhoods. Will a shared sense of pride in adhering to America's fundamental ideals provide a basis for all residents-- whether they are homeowners, tenants, or residents of public housing-- to unite on behalf of a social contract proposed by neighborhood leaders? 3. 4. Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out that participation itself, especially in political action, contributed to "association?" What sort of participation will neighbors in varied circumstances undertake to promote the general welfare social contract, in relation to security, physical appearance, and children? To what extent will neighborhood residents unite with the unemployed and low-income residents of the community to secure opportunity as defined by the social contract? 5. 6. What will government and business do to promote unity around the social contract in relation to security, physical appearance, and children? How will they join with citizens to assist the at- risk members of the community? Will government and business see themselves as active contributors to this process? 7. 8. "To Establish Justice" 9. "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger; and as, in the latter state, even the stronger individuals are prompted, by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the weak as well as themselves..." 
--James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787 10. "The American Constitution does resemble the Spanish Inquisition in this: that it is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence, perhaps the only piece of practical politics that is also theoretical politics and also great literature. It enunciates that all men are equal in their claim to justice, that governments exist to give them that justice, and that their authority is for that reason just...It is the pure classic conception that no man must aspire to be anything more than a citizen, and that no man shall endure to be anything less." 
--G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America, 1903 11. "White America must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society. The comfortable, the entrenched, the privileged cannot continue to tremble at the prospect of change in the status quo. 
-- Martin Luther King, A Testament of Hope, posthumous, 1969 12. 13. Questions for Discussion 14. 1. 2. Underlying the proposed neighborhood social contract will be a basic principle of justice. In defining the "justice" presumed by the Constitution, Madison envisaged an America in which the strong would not exploit the weak. How will the efforts to deal with crime, physical decay, the development of children, and poverty defined by the social contract promote this kind of justice? 3. 4. Some say that "justice" is served when the economy sorts out "winners" and "losers" on the principle of letting the "fittest survive." Does the social contract presume that only the "fittest"-- that is, people with certain ethnic or economic characteristics-- should be in the neighborhood? Is this consistent with justice under the Constitution? 5. 6. The Golden Rule says that we should "love thy neighbor as thyself." Under the new social contract, can the neighborhood be brought to accept this conception of justice, in relation to all residents? Planet Visitor II |
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